Unclaimed Souls
by Regardless1604
Summary: Unclaimed campers always felt unwanted and resentful towards their parents. Shiloh Lawson, who doesnt hate her unknown mother, is about to find out what it's truly like to be unwanted. The Lightning Thief from an unclaimed camper's POV. First in series. FINISHED.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my second fanfiction! So please excuse it if it seams kind of slow in the beginning. Anyway, a lot of the characters are originally made by me, such as Shiloh, Harley, and Levi. Please let me know what you think of the story. It's the first one in a series, so if you get my drift, the next story will be the Sea of Monsters from Shiloh's POV. You can also find additional information about this series at the bottom of my profile page.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

**Chapter One- Unwanted **

My father is a lawyer who has no time for his family. My mother is an Olympian goddess who doesn't feel the necessity to claim her daughter. Where does that leave me? Stuck in the Hermes cabin at Camp Half-Blood feeling lonely and unwanted. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my father, and my mother… well I don't _hate_ her. I just feel a little sad when I think about the fact that she doesn't want me. Now, if you look at some of the other unclaimed demigods in this cramped cabin, _they_ are the ones with the major resentment and hate. Like my best friend Ethan Nakamura, he, well, is not happy with his position at all. When I first came to this camp at ten years old, we had an instant connection that led up to our friendship. It's like he's one of the people I can trust not to lie to me or to leave me if that's what everyone else is doing… Oh, my name, I totally forgot to mention it! I'm Shiloh Lawson, which I think is kind of funny 'cause my dad is a lawyer… anyway, I'm ADHD, but not dyslexic like most demigods. I'm thirteen, so I've been at this camp for three years now. I guess you could say I'm on good standings with my mother, whoever she is, or at least I was, until that Percy guy got claimed a week ago… I'll start at the beginning of two weeks ago, two days before he showed up.

"Annabeth seems to be acting really anxious this week, like she can tell something is going to happen." I said to Ethan as we sat on the deck of the lake, watching campers do various activities.

"Who cares about her?" He said as he threw a rock harshly into the lake. "She's a stuck-up, stupid, know-it-all, _claimed_ daughter of Athena. I try my best not to pay any attention to her."

"C'mon Ethan, don't be mean… she's just lucky."

"Yeah, whatever. But she does think she's sooo awesome and a perfect demigod just because she's been here longer than just about anybody. And it's not like I'm gonna look up to her, she's two years younger than me and a year younger than you! She doesn't deserve our respect." He scowled.

I decided this was a bad subject to keep going on about with Ethan, so I racked my brain for something to change the subject to. "Um, so…" I looked at him, but he was still staring at the water. Then I looked at the cloudy grey sky and I thought, _what the Hades, when you don't know what to talk about, bring up the weather!_ "It looks like the weather has been bad for days; it's usually sunny this time of year." I smiled at him.

He was quiet for a few moments, and then concluded "It has been ever since the winter solstice… it leads me to wonder if something is up with the Olympians—"

"And why we haven't been told yet." I finished. We just sat there in silence thinking to ourselves until the conch horn blew for dinner.

* * *

><p>After a meal of Greek olive pizza, I started down the path to the camp fire when I saw a familiar horse-man. "Chiron!" I shouted and ran toward him. He had been gone for the past year on some field problems that must've been really important—important enough for Chiron to leave. I gave him a hug and he looked down at me.<p>

"How have you been, Shiloh? Has camp been running smooth without me?"

"I guess so, but you should probably go talk to Mr. D about—"

"What did he do?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Um, well, er… he kind of turned Bobby into a squirrel… again. And that's just one thing he did."

"Ah, so I've heard. I will go talk some things out with the director after the campfire tonight." He chuckled. "Well, I am going to go greet other campers." He said as he started to trot away.

A lump formed in my throat. "Chiron," I called after him. He turned around and I walked towards him.

"Yes child?" he said.

"Well, there's something that's worrying me…" I glanced up at the sky.

"Something will always worry every person, even when there isn't a care in our minds." He said, but I could tell something that was worth worrying about was on his mind too. The way his tail flicked about nervously made me worry even more.

"Well, the sky hasn't cleared up since the winter solstice and Annabeth has been acting weird lately and I just don't know what's going on and Ethan and I are getting suspicious that something might be wrong up in Olympus and we just don't like not knowing anything." I said all with one breathe and pleading eyes, hoping that Chiron would give me a hint of anything.

But he just sighed and said "Ethan is a troubled child, Shiloh, and both of you are unclaimed… that of course would give you questions about where you belong. What I'm trying to say is that because you two have questions on what you're parentage is, it would be natural that you both are more prone to wonder about certain things and have more questions than others." He sounded sincere, but I could tell that he was trying not to answer my other questions.

I turned away trying to hold back a mix of emotion. Anger, fear, sadness… I know he didn't mean to make me remember that I have no clue as to who my mother is, which makes me different. Unclaimed. Unwanted. I brushed the spiked bangs of my short bobbed black hair out of my eyes. _I need answers_, I thought. I _will_ ask him what's going on, and I _will_ _not_ back down.

"Chiron, I need to know—" I started as I turned around, but Chiron was gone. These problems must be bigger than I thought… so big, Chiron's not aloud speak of them.

* * *

><p>The next day was nearly the same as every day. I got up to find silly string and gum—not new gum, but <em>chewed<em> gum—completely tangled in my hair. Then, of course, I went and attempted to beat up the Stoll brothers. Ugh, I really hate those two. After my little dispute, Luke helped me get the stuff out of my hair. There's something about him… I'm not sure. Maybe a dark side? But it confuses me: he's been claimed, yet he has so much hate for his father and I don't know why. I would be so thankful if my mother claimed me… I guess we just have different perspectives.

After breakfast, the Hermes cabin headed down to the arena for sword fighting practice. I took out my beautiful double-edged celestial bronze sword, Isorropías, which means balance. I'm not sure why I picked the blade, but I felt like it was calling to me when I saw it. Anyway, when I was teamed up to fight Connor Stoll, oh, I went to town. I may not be very good with my fists, but with my sword, I'm descent, small to say the least.

Later in the day during free time I was walking along with Ethan and our other friends, Harley and Levi, twin unclaimed campers. They both have freckled faces, super curly ginger hair, and they're both the same height. If they were the same gender, the only thing that would set them apart would be their eyes. Harley has pretty blue ribbon colored eyes and Levi's are deep forest green. Their personalities are pretty much the same, and they're main goal is to win at everything. But then again, that's easy for them—they're pretty much all-arounds—they're good at everything. The only thing that really sets them back is being unclaimed. It's a serious drag for them, so all of us unclaimed are real tightly knit with each other.

I guess you could say the unclaimed are just like any other cabin, except we share one with the Hermes kids. We act as one family, we stick together, and it seems as if we all share the same parent… the Unknown.

Anyway, we were walking past Zeus's, Hera's, and Poseidon's cabins. We stopped and stared in reverential awe. Although we never paid much attention to them, we all had one thing on our minds: trouble at Olympus. We all thought these cabins might hold some answers—perhaps superstition—we sure why, but we did.

"Should we, er, approach?" Levi asked Ethan.

"I'm not sure. These are sacred cabins; we could be burned to ash just by stepping into them." He responded.

"You've got to be kidding me." Harley looked at him. "You believe that old legend?" she chuckled.

Ethan gave her a solemn look and turned back to the cabins. "I'm not sure, but our very existence should be a legend if it was up to the mortals."

We all nodded agreement. In our little group of four Ethan is the leader. He's the oldest, but only by a year. I'm the youngest, but only by a few months behind the twins. We all treat each other equally, but we think of Ethan as the one who binds us together. He doesn't want to believe that and he claims if even one of us were claimed our group could fall apart; it's because we share being unclaimed that makes us strong. Sometimes though, I try to ignore his annoying philosophical answers.

We were just staring at the three majestic cabins when we heard someone behind us say "What do you guys think you're doing?"

It took me off guard a little and my natural instinct was to whirl around and punch, but my fist was caught in a skilled hand. I was face to face with Annabeth, who had mud smeared on her face.

"Oh, Annabeth, I didn't realize it was you." I breathed relieved.

"What do you think you're doing? Are you spying on us? You don't have to butt into everyone's business like this all the time!" Ethan lashed out. "And let go of Shiloh's wrist! What were you planning on doing, throwing her on the ground and beating her up?"

This took Annabeth back a little and she let go of my fist.

"Ethan, it's okay, just calm down." I said, but he was still in a defensive position.

"Um, Chiron sent me to find you guys because you weren't at archery. I didn't mean intrude on anything you guys were planning." She said in a meek, yet defensive voice.

"Yeah right," Ethan retorted. "And you jump to conclusions that we're planning something devious, like we're the bad kids from broken families and you're the perfect angel from the perfect people!"

That moment Ethan crossed the line. Harley and Levi mumble "Uh oh," and you could just see the steam building.

Annabeth got right in front of Ethan, got on her tip toes, pointed her finger at him, opened her mouth and—nothing came out. Then she did the last thing I expected. She straightened, took a step back, and calmly said "You do _not_ know what kind of family I come from. I know you have resentment for claimed campers, but you need to suck it up and get to archery. Chiron is waiting." And with that, she jogged away with her blonde ponytail bouncing on her shoulders.

"Way to go, Ethan." Levi said after Annabeth was out of sight.

"Good riddance." Was all Ethan had to say as we headed for the archery range.

* * *

><p>Ethan didn't talk much and we didn't talk much to him for the rest of the day. Right before curfew, Annabeth was called to the Big House because Chiron needed to talk to her. Harley wanted to eavesdrop and find out what they were talking about, but Levi and I decided it wasn't a good idea. And besides our mishap with Annabeth, the day went smoothly, until that night.<p>

Now, I know that demigods are supposed to have weird dreams relating to mythological stuff, but the last one I had was before I left home and ran away to camp. In that dream I swear I saw my mother. I have a faint memory of what she looked like, beautiful yet deadly, like a viper. Nowadays the only weird dreams I have are tacos dancing with satyrs and dryads, or weird stuff like that. But this dream terrified me.

_"Come, little unclaimed hero,"_ I heard a cold voice say. I was standing at the edge of a pit and a giant hand made out of shadow emerged. I couldn't walk, run, scream—nothing. All I could do was watch as the hand came near me. It laughed coldly and seemed to tear my heart right out of my chest.

_"Remorse, hatred, betrayal—I see none of it in you."_ The evil voice echoed.

_"That's because I don't feel any of that."_ I tried to say bravely, but it just came out in shaky gasps.

_"You will soon,"_ It laughed again. _"You have no friends, no one you can trust; only lying, thieving traitors that will try to destroy you! You are not accepted, come to me and you will be made loved. You will have a real family."_

_"No, I have friends, people do accept me—"_

_"No!"_ It yelled in a brain rattling voice. Then it seemed to take on a slyer, softer voice. _"Not even your own mother wants you. Face it, Shiloh Lawson, you are unwanted. The gods are not you're advocates; they do not care about your worthless soul. Come to me, and I will make you worth something."_

_"No, I will never come. You're a monster! I don't know who you are, but I will not come!"_ I yelled.

I heard him roar in anger and then there was an ear shattering clap of thunder and a bright bolt of lightning. I shot up in my cot on the cabin floor in a cold sweat. I looked outside and the thunder and lightning seemed to be right over head, but there was no rain thanks to the camp's magical boundaries.

"Just a dream, just a dream." I told myself quietly. I lied back down and closed my eyes, but I couldn't get one phrase the voice in the pit said out of my head:

_"You are unwanted."_

**A/N: Thanks for reading, and reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**So this chapter and many more in the future are going to have alot of dialogue from the actual books. I'm sure you all will recognize the original sentences. By using these conversations, I do not mean any plagiarism, so please don't take it that way. Thank you.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything PJO, especially not the conversations.**

**Chapter Two- The "One"**

I couldn't get very much sleep that night even as hard as I tried. Finally Saturday morning rolled around. When I sat up in my cot I looked around but no one was in the cabin. I looked at my watch; the blinking numbers said 8:30.

"Oh, for the love Zeus!" I yelled. It was thirty minutes past breakfast time and no one cared to wake me up? I got my clothes and changed hastily into a pair of blue basketball shorts and an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. I slipped on some socks and shoes I thought were mine, put my un-brushed hair into a tiny, messy ponytail, and ran down the hill to the dining pavilion.

As I got into the dining pavilion some of the Aphrodite girls snickered as they saw me. I looked down at my clothes realizing I was completely unmatched, the socks I were wearing were two different colors and heights, my shoelaces were untied, and half of my wrinkled shirt was tucked into my shorts. I just sighed and walked to a place on the bench my friends had saved me, a spot in between Levi and Harley.

I sat down and hissed "Thanks for waking me up, you two!"

"Sorry," Levi began "But Ethan said not to wake you up because you had a rough time sleeping or something like that."

How did he know? No one else seemed to be awake at that time of night. Then I noticed Ethan wasn't at the table. "Speaking of Ethan, where is he?" I asked.

"I'm right here." I heard him say behind me.

"Where were you?" Harley asked suspiciously.

"I can't say much, but there's a new camper… he's not in very good condition." He looked at the three of us.

"Here, make room, guys," I said as I started to scoot over.

"No, it's okay, I'm not hungry." Ethan objected. "Anyway, I'm going to go down to the cabin and start getting things cleaned up, maybe we'll get a good score on cabin inspections this time." He said with a forced smile and ran back towards the cabins.

"I wondered who this new camper is…" I said. I looked over and saw Annabeth looking at me as if to say _'Stay out of it and mind your own business_.' I wondered what was up with her, but these days Annabeth confused me more than ever.

* * *

><p>Later in the day Chiron came up and asked if I would take the next shift at the Big House, nursing the new camper back to health. Annabeth had been there for hours and it would be good for someone to relieve her.<p>

"Sure." I replied.

"Okay, but Shiloh, if at any time he seems to, I don't know, go into critical condition, get me right away." And with that he galloped off to another class he was teaching.

_Okay,_ I thought as I jogged off for the big house, _now it's my chance to find something out._

When I got to the Big House I realized I didn't know what room the new kid was in. I saw Mr. D sitting in the parlor drinking a Diet Coke.

"Um, Mr. D, sir," I began.

He turned around. "What do you want?"

"Do you, by chance, know what room the new camper is in?"

"How should I know? It is not my place to keep track of you brats!" he snorted.

"Oh, I'll go find him myself then." I said as the director turned back around in his chair. Well, _that_ was a lot of help.

Then Dionysus turned around and said "I can be helpful when I feel like it, Sarah."

"It's Shiloh, and I don't need your help." And with that I flew up the stairs hoping he wouldn't turn me into a squirrel like Bobby.

I looked in every room to see if it was the right one, but none of them were until I got to the very end room on the third floor, where I heard someone talking.

I pressed my ear to the door just to hear bits of pieces of something Annabeth was saying "What… happen… summer solstice…?" Aha! Something is going on with the solstice!

But then I heard a new voice strain to say "What?"

"What's going on? …was stolen? ...Only a few weeks…!" Annabeth said worriedly.

I took my ear from the door wondering what was going to happen on the solstice. The I realized I was eavesdropping and told myself not to let that part of Harley rub off on me anymore. I decided the only way to stop my curiosity was to go into the room. I knocked and heard soft footsteps come to the door. "I'm here to relieve you."

"Oh, good, well, feed him this ambrosia," she said as she pushed the bowl and spoon at me.

"Um, okay," I took the bowl and just as it landed in my hands, she dashed out of the room. "Wow, she must not want to be here or something…" I said quietly. When I got to the bedside the boy must've went unconscious again. He had deep black hair and looked about twelve or so.

I hoped he would wake up again so I could try to get some things answered, but he didn't.

* * *

><p>That evening the sky seemed to clear up. Harley and Levi wanted me to tell them what the new kid was like, but my answer disappointed them.<p>

Later during the camp fire, Ethan and the three of us debated on what we think was going to happen on the summer solstice, but in the end we concluded that it just had something to do with a stolen object; a very _important_ stolen object.

The next day was Sunday, and everything was surprisingly sunny. The day seemed to drag on and nothing really exciting happened. The new kid hadn't recovered yet, and didn't wake up to say anything.

Monday slowly rolled around, and after morning classes, like Ancient Greek class, mythology class, and a couple more, Harley and I decided to go regain the campers' glory at the sand volley ball pit. The satyrs had won the last five or six times, so we really felt lame to be beaten by a bunch of stupid goats. Selena Beauregard had set the ball to me, but just as I was about to spike across the net and score a point, thunder rolled across the cloudless sky. It took me off guard and I missed the ball.

"Ugh, we're never going to win this game!" I said as I lay on the ground after missing my footing from the attempted spike I made.

"Hey, don't worry about it," I saw a familiar face look down at me. Lee Fletcher reached out his hand, and I took it, pulling myself up.

"Thanks" I smiled. We got back into our game and just as Harley dived for the ball, Annabeth was jogging to the cabins as if something important was happening.

"Hey!" I called to her. She stopped and turned to face me but she said nothing. "Is the new kid awake? Did you learn anything?" She just looked at me and nodded grimly, but then her face contorted into a strange mix of surprise and humor. The moment she did, I felt the volley ball hit the back of my head full-force. I turned to see who did it. "What is your guy's problem?" I demanded.

"Oh, sorry, we thought you were gonna get it." One of the campers said.

I was irritated and had a new headache, but I turned around to ask Annabeth _exactly_ what had happed, but she was gone. There was some more distant thunder and Malcolm, son of Athena, mumbled "Someone is misusing some powerful names."

We went on playing and there was more distant thunder, but we tried not to let it bother our game. We were nearing the end of the game, the score was tied up, and I was thinking that maybe this time we would win.

The ball came to Harley and she looked as if she would make the winning shot, but something caught her eye and the ball fell to her feet. The satyrs sent up a cheer, but we all looked where Harley was staring. There was Chiron, and next to him was the boy. And in his hand… in his hand…

Lee nudged me and pointed to the object in his hand. "Is that what I think it is?" he whispered to me.

I heard Malcolm say in a loud whisper "That's_ him_."

The boy looked at us with sea green eyes as Chiron led him along to the strawberry fields.

Harley came over to me and said "Hey, I bet he's unclaimed, let's go back to the cabin and wait for him there."

"Sure, let's go." The other kids were looking at us expectantly. "We'll let you guys know if we find out anything interesting."

We ran off to our cabin and waited inside by the door. Annabeth was sitting on the porch reading an architecture book and didn't even look up when we came in. About five minutes later Levi came running in with Ethan trailing behind him. "The new kid is awake! He'll be coming here, I think he's unclaimed!" Levi said panting.

"Well no duh," Ethan said, "He just got here."

"Where did you guys see him?" One of the Stoll brothers asked.

"In the strawberry fields, it sounds like he lost his mother or something." Levi said.

"And it sounds like Grover is in trouble… again." Ethan said darkly.

We waited for about another ten minutes when Levi said "Well, we've been waiting for hours! So I'm going to go look for them myself." He started to walk out of the door, but stopped short. He backed up slightly and then bowed. I looked outside and saw Chiron, so we all bowed out of respect. We heard him say "Cabin eleven, make yourself at home." He gestured to the door. "Well, then, good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner." And with that he galloped away.

We all stood up and saw who Chiron had been talking to. The new boy, this 'Percy', was just standing there looking at us when Annabeth said "Well? Go on."

He took a step in and tripped over the door post. I heard Luke mumble "We really need to get that fixed."

I saw Harley mouth 'Wow' and then put an_ L_ on her fore head motioning for '_Loser_.'

"Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven." Annabeth announced.

I doubted he was a real Hermes kid, but I called out "Regular or undetermined?"

Annabeth looked at me with a 'duh' look, thenchanged her line of vision to the rest of the cabin and said "Undetermined." We all groaned, but I felt kind of bad for him. Maybe since he'll know the unclaimed' pain, we could become friends. But honestly, I should've known better.

I wasn't really paying attention when Luke was explaining what undetermined meant. I was lost in my own thoughts.

Then I heard Percy ask "How long will I be here?"

"Good question, until you're determined." Luke replied.

"How long will that take?"

_Wow, he is sooo oblivious_, I thought as we all started laughing.

He seemed so, well… lame. At least he did at the time, and none of us new why we had thought that he was "the one."

**A/N: Thanks for reading! =D And please make sure to review! Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter seemed to take FOREVER to finish. But its done now so I'm happy :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or conversations from the book.**

**Chapter Three- Visions**

Annabeth dragged Percy out the door to "show" him the volley ball court. We all laughed as he left the cabin.

"Wow, he's a charmer, now ain't he?" I heard one of the other campers say.

"Come on Shiloh, let's go see what they're talking about." Harley whispered to me.

"No, let them be." I sighed. But she took hold of my wrist and dragged me out the door. We stealthily followed them to where we thought they were going, but they stopped short after they were out of earshot of our cabin. We hid behind a tree as best as we could as we tried to listen to them.

"…Some bull guy-" We heard Percy say.

"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth hissed. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"

"To get killed?" Wow, this kid just didn't get it. We watched them for a little while longer when we heard Annabeth say "The Fur… I mean your math teacher."

"Please tell me she did not just say the Kindly Ones are after him." Harley looked at me with concern. I just shook my head. I wasn't really sure what to think anymore. They kept talking and Annabeth started diagnosing him with ADHD and dyslexia. He looked really embarrassed, and we couldn't help but laughing under our breaths.

We went back to what they were saying when we saw Clarisse heading our way.

"Uh oh, maybe we should, er, hide a little better." Harley said as she started to climb up the tree.

I just stood there as Clarisse yelled "Well! A newbie!"

"Clarisse, why don't you go polish your spear or something." Annabeth sighed.

"Sure, Miss Princess, so I can run you through with it Friday night." The Ares girl retorted.

"_Erre es korakas_! You don't stand a chance." Annabeth said with a quite a bit of pride in her voice.

I could see Harley shaking nervously and maybe with a twinge of fear as she watched them from her hiding place. She had bad experiences with both Annabeth _and_ Clarisse at numerous capture-the-flag sessions. One time when the Hermes cabin were opposing the Athena team, Annabeth and her siblings had one of their finest, most impenetrable plans, and Harley somehow worked her way around it and brought their flag over. Let's just say Annabeth was _not_ a happy camper and that night didn't end up well for Harley. Another time, Clarisse… well, I'm not going to even try to explain what happened.

I came out of my train of thought when I felt someone shaking my shoulder. Harley had come down out of the tree. I looked around but didn't see the other campers anymore. "Where did they go?" I asked.

"Well, uh, haha, about that…" Harley laughed nervously. "Why don't you follow me?" We started walking when I heard a strange groaning noise like pipes, coming from the girls' bathroom.

"Oh no, please don't tell me—" I started, but just then Clarisse and her friends shot out of the bathroom by a stream of water. We just stood there in shocked silence. Percy and Annabeth walked out of the bathroom, and it was hilarious—Annabeth was completely soaked in toilet water and Percy… he was dry… but why?

Clarisse gave a look of hatred and growled "You are dead new boy. You are totally dead."

But obviously Percy hadn't learned to shut up when it came to Clarisse. "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."

She tried to charge at him, but her friends held her back. Annabeth just stared at him.

"What?" He asked.

Oh no, here comes another one of her plans. "I'm thinking that I want you on my team for capture the flag."

Annabeth started to walk away with Percy, so, _of course_, Harley wanted to follow. We went around camp hiding behind everything possible as Percy got the tour. Finally they stopped at the canoe lake. Annabeth supposedly had training to do, but I think she was just trying to get away from Percy.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets." Percy tried to apologize.

"Whatever."

"It wasn't my fault." But Annabeth just looked at him and he realized it _was_ his fault.

Harley got a weird scheming look on her face, and tiptoed over to them. "Harley!" I hissed.

She leapt with her arms out to push the two into the water, but I pulled her back just in time. We sprawled in the grass and Annabeth was the only one who seemed to notice. She gave us a nasty look and turned to Percy and said "You need to talk to the Oracle."

I guess this was her hint as to _I'll get to you two later_. But the Oracle? What was she talking about? No one had been to the Oracle since Luke's quest went bad… we tried to stick around to hear what else she had to say about it.

Percy was waving at the water, and I'm guessing there were naiads. But as he was looking down, Annabeth turned around and mouthed "_Go!_"

So we ran off back to the cabin with none of our questions answered and a very angry Annabeth on our hands.

We waited in the cabin for Percy to get back so we could talk to him. Ethan said there was something about him and that he doesn't think we should try to befriend to him. Something about him made Ethan think he won't care about us and that he's not unclaimed material. When Levi tried to ask him what kind of material he was, Ethan wouldn't tell him. And so this made Levi start telling Ethan off about how he shouldn't be so cold, but Ethan was set in his ways. It all ended up with Levi storming out the door yelling "Yeah, well maybe I don't care about you! I don't need you to act like my big brother!"

"Well I don't need you either!" Ethan yelled back.

Harley and I looked at each other. We knew they didn't mean it. So Harley went off to search for her brother while I tried to calm Ethan down.

"C'mon, Ethan, you know you don't mean all that." I said as he looked away from me.

"Just… just don't trust him, Shiloh, please."

"But why, Ethan? Why shouldn't we trust Percy? Because you don't think we should?"

"No! Yes… Urg! I don't know!" he looked at me. His eyes seemed to be so confused, angry, hateful, scared, and distrustful. I normally saw him as a leader, strong and courageous, but now his eyes seemed like that of a scared and lonely child. I was looking at him trying to think of what to say when everything went black.

* * *

><p>I saw pictures rush through my mind like a movie. I saw Ethan with his sword, ekdíki̱si̱ (vengeance), drawn, with his back to me.<p>

"Ethan?" I called. He turned, but where his left eye should've been was an eye patch. He looked hollow, maybe even dead. I reached out to him, but he turned to dust and disappeared.

Next I saw Levi and he looked distraught. He was holding the broken figure of Harley, but something was different about her, she seemed to have a glow radiating from her. Levi looked up at me with tears in his eyes and pleaded "Please… help. We need you. Don't let this happen."

The twins disappeared and now I saw horrible images. Camp was in flames. The residents of major cities were fleeing in fear of some unknown force, a darkness that seemed to be consuming the buildings. I saw other things, but I just can't bring myself to describe them. I was basically seeing Western Civilization crumble at my feet. I suddenly felt a rush and I was back at that dark pit.

"_These things will happen, but come to me, and your friends will live. Just make things easier and come to me."_ That horrible voice echoed.

"_Please,"_ I begged. _"Don't… you can't!"_

The voice laughed cruelly and seemed to fancy the idea. _"I can't, can I? You have no idea what kind of power I have!"_ I felt my air way start to close and it was like gravity was crushing down on me.

"_Please!"_ I gasped _"Stop! Please!"_ I felt instant relief, like the sky had been lifted off my shoulders.

"_And I can make things much worse for you. Come; don't trust people, mere mortal fools."_ He seemed to be reading my mind. _"Ah, I see, you are pondering Ethan's words… hmm… I agree, do not trust this Percy character. He has none of your best interests in mind."_

* * *

><p>"<em>No, just stop! Why won't you leave me alone? I'm a worthless unclaimed camper, what do you want with me?"<em> I demanded.

"_And so you have said it."_ The voice seemed pleased.

"_Said what?"_

"_That you are unwanted."_

"_N-no…"_ I stammered.

"_But yes, you did. Now that you believe it yourself, you have been made even more ready for my purposes. Now, come to me, you know where I am."_ It laughed one more time and its presence began to sink down into the darkness.

A light seemed to come on and it grew until it was like daylight. My eyes fluttered open and I found myself in a bed in the informatory with Ethan and Lee looking down at me.

"And she lives!" I heard Lee exclaim.

Ethan had a flush of relief go over his face, but he stiffened again. "You gave us a real scare, Shiloh."

"Wh- what happened?" I said as I tried to sit up.

"We were talking and just like that—" Ethan snapped his fingers. "—you fell."

"How long have I been out?"

"Just over two hours," Lee replied "I wasn't sure if you needed any healing so we waited to see if you would wake up."

"Oh," I said, recounting the visions I had seen. "Wait! Levi… and Harley! Are they okay?"

"Yeah, we all got over our dispute, everything is fine now." Ethan said with a reassuring nod. "I need to be getting back to the cabin, and don't overdo yourself in any way." And with that he left.

"Well, I'm glad you came to," Lee said with a smile. He was about a year older than me and was the counselor of the Apollo cabin. He gave me his hand and helped pull me out of the bed.

"Thanks, Lee."

He just looked at my eyes, but then seemed to notice he was still holding my hand. "Oh," he put his head down and I could swear he was blushing. "No problem."

* * *

><p>I got back to my cabin and tried to put some pieces together. How could I know where to find this… this voice? I was kind of curious to know what it was, but I told myself not to even go there. I heard the conch blow for dinner, but I wasn't hungry. I lied down in my cot and thought about the weird vision. I felt horrible; I actually admitted that I was a worthless unwanted person. How could I do that to myself? I rolled over as I felt hot tears roll down my face. What was wrong with me?<p>

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for those of you who have been waiting for another chapter. I was meaning to get one on last Saturday, but I got two new stories uploaded and updated a new chapter of another story. I was mentally tired and couldn't write any more. So that's why. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: NO, I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!**

**Chapter Four- Claimed**

Capture the flag was tomorrow night and we were all excited, but we had to get a sword fighting lesson in first. As the Hermes cabin headed down to the arena, we were all wondering how the new kid was going to do.

When we got started, we went over the basics, stabbing and blocking and killing straw dummies. I took all my anger out on the one I was gutting. _Why am I so stupid? It's not my fault I proclaimed myself unwanted! It's all that… that thing's fault! That monster put those thoughts in my head and like Dad used to say, "If you hear or say it enough, even if it's not true, you'll start to believe it." Yeah, that's it! It's not my fault! _I thought as I hacked the dummies head off.

I looked over at Percy and he seemed to be doing okay, I guess, but it looked like he was uncomfortable with all of the blades he was trying out. I walked over to him. "Do you think you're a little unbalanced there?"

"Sort of," He responded, looking down at the sword.

"Here, you want to try out mine?" I asked holding out the handle, "Its name means Balance, after all."

He chuckled and took the hilt and rolled it around in his hand. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ethan frowning at me.

"No, I don't think so, but thanks for trying." Percy said anyway.

"No problem." Just as I walked away Luke announced we would be doing one-on-one fights.

"I'll be with Percy, the Stolls will be together," The brothers grinned stupidly at each other as Luke kept naming off the list. "And Ethan and Shiloh will be together."

"Nice," I looked at Ethan, and he just nodded.

As we were getting into groups, Levi walked by Percy and said "Good luck, Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years." But I think he was just trying to make him uncomfortable. That's Levi for you.

"Maybe he'll go easy on me."

Levi just snorted and walked away shaking his head.

As Ethan and I were sparring, I took a glance over at Luke and Percy. It was kind of funny, Luke kept telling his partner what to do, Percy would do it wrong, and would get hit with the flat of Luke's sword. Over and over and over again.

Just then I felt my sword fly out of my hands and Ethan's blade was to my neck. "Pay attention and keep your eyes on what concerns _you_." Ethan said coldly.

"Sorry Ethan… it's just that—" I was cut off by Luke calling for a break.

"Whatever." Ethan walked away to get some water.

All of a sudden Harley was behind me. "Don't worry about him, Shiloh; he's just been snippy with everyone since Percy got here."

"I've noticed." I responded grimly.

"Okay, everybody," Luke called. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo." He dragged an embarrassed Percy to the center of the arena. This was going to be interesting, I remember when _I_ was in Percy's shoes. "So I'm going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he has no choice but to drop his weapon."

Percy tried to step away but Luke's hand shot out and grabbed him. "This is difficult, I've had it used against me," He must have heard some of the other campers quietly laughing at what was going to happen to Percy, because he glared at us campers and said "No laughing at Percy. Most swordsmen have to work years on mastering this technique."

Luke used the technique in slow motion on Percy and immediately disarmed him. "Now in real time," he said. "We keep sparing until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"

Percy nodded and their swords clashed. Luke tried for the hilt but Percy wouldn't let him get near it. He seemed to detect the defensiveness and started pushing the newbie harder. Percy seemed to be getting worn out, but at the last moment he did the maneuver and Luke's sword clanged to the ground.

Everyone was silent, but I heard Ethan murmur "How did he do that… on his first try?"

Luke looked stunned and Percy put his sword down. "Um, sorry."

"Sorry? By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry?" Luke exclaimed, "Show me that again!"

Percy looked uncomfortable, and the moment their swords met, Percy's skidded across the ground. We were all expecting a fight, to say the least. After a few moments Harley called out "Beginners luck?"

Luke wiped his forehead and looked at Percy as if he was analyzing him. "Maybe, but I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."

* * *

><p>The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, and Ethan was acting like his normal, er, "chipper" self again.<p>

Friday afternoon Harley and I went to the climbing wall, and I would've fallen into the lava below if she wouldn't have caught my hand.

When we got off we watched Percy and Grover go up. Percy almost got fried, which made us laugh at his newbieness. He came off with singed holes in his shirt and Grover walked off like it was nothing.

Harley and I separated and I ended up running into Lee. Like we literally_ ran into_ each other.

"Oh, sorry!" He said as we dusted ourselves off.

"No problem." I looked at him, but he seemed kind of dazed. "Head in the clouds much?" I laughed.

"Oh… it's nothing… it's just…" His voice trailed off.

"What is it?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure someone… or some_ones_, are going to be claimed tonight…"

I could feel my heart beat getting faster. What if it's me and Ethan and Harley and Levi? But then again, what if it's just one of us… I tried to keep my cool. "So, why do you think so?" I asked.

"I don't know, I've been feeling this way for a while, like a week or so, that something important is going to happen tonight. I guess maybe it's the whole 'my dad is the god of prophecies' thing." He laughed nervously. "Maybe I'm getting insights on that kind of gift now. I just don't know."

* * *

><p>Later that night at dinner, all the campers were buzzing with excitement. It was finally time for capture the flag! As Annabeth ran in with her brother Malcolm and sister Shianne following, with the grey Athena banner trailing behind them, we all cheered. And on the other side Clarisse ran in with two of her brothers, and a blood red banner flapping in the wind.<p>

The Hermes cabin made a temporary alliance with Athena, and I was pretty sure we were going to win. Athena has the best battle strategists in the whole entire camp that tend to succeed, other than the Roday twins, you know, Harley and Levi, messing things up. Anyway, Ethan and I "accidentally" (thanks to Harley) overheard Annabeth's strategy for tonight that involves Percy, and even Ethan couldn't argue that it wasn't a good plan. After the bathroom incident, anything like this would work.

Beckendorf announced the teams. We were going to be teamed up with Athena and Apollo and the rest were going with Ares. My heart sunk a little when I heard, because we only have three cabins, but then again, we have the biggest groups.

Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble. "Heroes! You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game—" He continued giving the rules. I wondered how come if we know the rules like he said we do, why is he telling us them? _Oh, stop being mean Shiloh, _I told myself.

"—Arm yourselves!" Chiron said at last. He spread his hands and the tables covered with helmets, shields, and weapons.

I stepped to the table nearest to me and picked up a blue horse hair plumed helmet, a knife which I hid under my shirt sleeve, and a shield with a caduceus in the middle. I wondered when I would get to use a shield with _my_ mother's symbol on it. Maybe it would be tonight! Maybe I would be claimed and not be told I'm unwanted anymore. But I pushed that thought out of my mind as I pulled Isorropías out of its sheath and went over to where the Athena team was gathered.

"Blue team, forward!" Annabeth yelled as we marched to our side of the forest.

"Percy doesn't even know what he's in for!" I heard Harley laugh as she jogged up beside me.

"Well, he will soon, and I have a feeling he's going to regret it."

"Yeah, well, this plan seems pretty impenetrable." Harley became a little solemn.

"Don't worry," I tried to sound upbeat. "We'll win, you just watch."

"I sure hope so." She seemed kind of down, and I wasn't sure what was wrong. I had an eerie feeling it had nothing to do with tonight's game.

Then I had a great idea that might cheer her up. "Hey! I was talking to Lee today and he told me that—"

Just then the conch horn blew. "Get to your positions!" I heard Annabeth yell.

"Well, you can tell me later, now get going!" She called after me as I ran over to the enemy side. I saw Percy standing border control. _Have fun with that_, I thought as I leapt over the stream. I was passing a large amount of underbrush when I heard a terrible sound. A low growl came from somewhere in the woods.

_Could it be a… no, don't scare yourself like that! Those things don't live in the forest, they only live in the… in the… the Underworld,_ I thought as I stopped. The growl subsided and I was filled with relief, reencountering visions of monsters I fled from during my time getting to camp.

Just then I looked down and Clarisse and her buddies just so happened to be hiding in the bushes. "Beat it," She sneered at me.

I ran to my post as I heard Clarisse burst out of the bushes to attack Percy. I climbed up in my tree and waited for someone to walk by. As I was wondering who could possibly be claimed, I heard footsteps. Looking down, I saw Beckendorf. I was debating with myself on whether I should attack, which I definitely did not think it was a good idea. I saw a streak of red pass and saw Luke running with the flag.

"Hey!" Beckendorf yelled and started to chase Luke. At that split second I made up my mind and jumped from the tree. "Agh!" his voice was muffled as I landed on him and knocked him to the ground.

"Sorry!" I called behind my shoulder. I got to the creek just in time to see my teammates lift Luke onto their shoulders.

I saw Levi walk up next to me. "That was a pretty nice stunt you pulled back there on Becken-" He stopped abruptly, listened, and pulled his magical bow out of nowhere.

"What is it?" I asked, but then we all heard it. A bloodcurdling howl echoed through the forest. "_Di immortals_!" I started. "I was right! It's a-"

A giant wall of fur with glowing red eyes jumped out of the forest and started attacking Percy. I heard at least five of Levi's arrows wiz past my ear in mere seconds and sprout out of the hellhound's neck. Many more hit it and the beast fell.

"What on earth!" Levi stammered.

"Someone summoned it, someone inside the camp." Chiron said grimly.

Clarisse was drenched and I guess her little fight with Percy went sour. "It's all Percy's fault!" She yelled accusingly. "Percy summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child." Chiron said.

The hound's body melted into shadow and disappeared.

"You're wounded," Annabeth seemed to notice Percy. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."

"I'm okay." He argued.

"No, you're not, Chiron, watch this."

We all gathered around as Percy stepped into the creek reluctantly.

Instantly his wounds began to close up. Levi gasped and whispered "Impossible." But he wasn't staring at his healing cuts. He was staring at the spinning holographic trident that was swirling above Percy's head.

It was starting to fade as Percy looked up and Chiron announced "It is determined."

I felt my knees go weak as I kneeled along with all the other campers.

"My father?" Percy asked warily.

"Poseidon, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea god."

We stood up and I started to walk away before everyone else.

"Shiloh!" I heard Lee call my name. He put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry… I shouldn't have told you, I know how badly you…" His voice trailed off.

"Yeah, you were right," I said bitterly as I shook his hand off. "Tonight was important. Someone was claimed." And with that I stomped off.

I heard a voice in my head, one that I had never let talk to me, one that I tried so very hard to keep caged up, the bitter, hateful, resentful, almost evil part of my consciousness. _"Face it Lawson,"_ it hissed _"You're not accepted or important, your very existence is a worthless mistake."_

_"No,"_ I told it.

_"Listen to me!"_ It seemed to yell. _"I am you and you are me. You're just now starting to understand my influence on you."_

"No, I won't let you rule my life! I've kept you've locked up long enough, and I can do it some more!"

_"No, no you can't. I am all the resent you have ever known, the part you never let yourself feel, but was still in you."_

I collapsed holding my head. "Please go away! Just leave me alone and go away!" I shouted at the voice, but I must've been speaking out loud, too.

"Are you okay?" I heard Lee say behind me, but I wasn't registering his words. All I could concentrate on was the voice.

_"Fine, but I will always, __always__, be here. As long as feel you're unimportant. Because you are, and you know it."_ But what I didn't realize at the time was that it was the monster, that terrible black thing in the pit that was speaking through my conscience_. "Because you're unwanted, you always have been, and you always will be, that is why I am here to stay."_

**A/N: Thanks for reading, now REVIEW, REVIEW, and REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Yay! It actually didn't take me two weeks to get this chapter on! Just a day late. Anyway, now that school is done, I should be getting at least one chapter on every week instead of every other week. And I would like to thank darklilyofthevalley for being such a dedicated reader and reviewer! So, anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Of course I don't own anything!**

**Chapter Five- Silence**

"Wow, what happened to your hair?" A familiar form hovered over me.

My eyes fluttered open, and I sat up wearily. "What—what do you mean?" I crawled over to the stream we were camping out by and my reflection showed a silver streak through the front of my black hair. I sat back, confused. "I just don't know, last night was such a blur…"

"We were fighting a hoard of monsters that surrounded us, and I knew we weren't going to survive, there were just too many, and… and… I just went unconscious." My friend said.

"The same with me," I agreed. "Everything just went black as I watched Scarlet get taken down—"

"Scarlet! Where is she?" She exclaimed.

We looked around but couldn't find our third member anywhere. "Scarlet!" My friend cried as she fell to her knees.

She was gone… actually gone… Scarlet, our companion, friend, the encouraging spirit that kept us persevering on our way to finding camp… gone, just like that. I looked over at my surviving companion. She was devastated, absolutely devastated. How could we go on?

Just then a clap of thunder rolled across the sky. "Nik!" I yelled as I bolted up in my cot.

"Nuhh…" I heard Harley groan as she rolled over. I looked around, but it appeared that no one had woken up from my shout. I touched the silver streak that striped down into one of my bangs. The painful memory of my way to camp flooded like a river of pain over me. "Nik, Scarlet… I'm so, so sorry." I whispered as a tear rolled down my cheek.

I felt bad feeling sorry for myself. I looked over at Harley, who had a really hard past. The most I had ever gotten out of her was something about her dad dying in a fire or an accident or something when she was younger and I can't even get anything out of Levi. They lost everything before they came to camp, yet _my_ father's still alive and I'm sitting here throwing a silent pity party. Grant it, all half-bloods have a rough life, if they even survive to live one, but some are worse than others.

This led me to wonder what happened with Percy as I lied back down. What was his story and what happened to him? I was pondering this question as I drifted back to sleep…

* * *

><p>We all avoided Percy for the next few days for one reason or another, but mostly because Poseidon claimed him as his son, meaning Percy was a very, very powerful demigod.<p>

Clarisse and her buddies avoided him from the beating he gave them during capture the flag. Most of the Hermes kids didn't want to swordfight or do any other activities with him because they were scared of what he could do to them, so Luke trained him one on one. And Ethan, well, he avoided him for his normal reasons, and Percy being claimed just backed up those reasons even more.

I chose to be on Ethan's good side, one, because we had been friends for such a long time, and two, whenever I would talk to Percy he would smile and continue responding, but every time he wouldn't seem to quite remember who I was, like I wasn't a person he needed to note in his memory. So I figured, hey, I'll just stick with my friends. No problem.

Every time I saw Lee, he gave me worried looks, like my nose was falling off my face or something. We talked very little, actually the whole camp seemed quiet, tense, concentrating on the storm brewing above us. The sky was grey and hazy and was sealing around the camp like a lid. Usually rain clouds would just skirt around us, so this was a worrisome thing, but at least it wasn't raining in camp, not yet.

The next day, Ethan showed me and the twins a coffee-stained newspaper he found at the camp store. He read the article out loud to us:

"BOY AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER FREAK ACCIDENT by Eileen Smythe. Sally Jackson and son Percy are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance—" he kept reading on with interest. "—call the toll-free crime-stoppers hotline." He ended with the number.

"Interesting…" Levi said. "It seems to be turning out like Percy's fault in the mortals' eyes."

"Yeah…" Harley sighed.

"It's kind of funny."

"You're impossible!" Harley smacked her brother upside the head.

Ethan just sighed and threw the newspaper down on the cabin floor in between his and Levi's cots. We had a little more room on the floor to stretch out now that Percy was moved to his own cabin, but not much.

A day or so later I was in the cabin by myself and something caught my eye. I walked over to one of the bunks that belonged to a Hermes kid and rolled back the blanket. In between the sheets was Percy's Minotaur horn! If there is one thing that I do _not_ like, it's thieves, and that's just tough since I live in a cabin full of them. I sighed and picked up the horn reverentially. I needed to get this back to Percy's cabin before he, or anyone else for that matter, saw it.

I hesitated before tiptoeing into his cabin. It seemed to be empty, but that was pretty obvious, since Percy was the only one who lived in it. I hung his precious possession on the wall, but when I was walking out the door, I saw something in the trash can. I pulled out a newspaper, and it happened to have the same coffee stains as the one Ethan had showed us. The article involving Percy and his mom was turned to the outside of the paper, and the crime-stoppers phone number was circled in black marker.

"Ethan!" I hissed as I took the paper with me. I don't think Percy would care about losing it.

I found Ethan at the canoe lake throwing pebbles at the water. I marched up to him and held up the page. "Ethan! What were thinking?" He turned around and looked at me. "I know you don't like him, but that doesn't mean you have to be cruel!"

He looked puzzled at the circled number. "I didn't do that, Shiloh, why did you automatically assume I did?" He said with a sort of truthful innocence.

"Yeah, well," I tried to come up with a reasonable answer. "You seem the most likely to do something like this!"

"Maybe, but it wasn't me." He shook his head and went back to throwing rocks.

Whoever did this obviously did not like Percy, I just wasn't sure who. Wait, why am I even defending him? He's not my friend…

* * *

><p>The sky continued to get darker and the tension was rising every day that past. June ninth, eleven days before the solstice, Percy was summoned to the Big House. I saw Grover taking him there on my to archery practice.<p>

"I wonder what Mr. D. wants with him?" Harley wondered.

"Do you think it could have anything with a… a…" Levi lowered his voice down to a hush. "…A quest?"

"Quests," Ethan said with disgust. "Never been on one, never have had the chance to go on one, probably never will. What makes Percy any different?"

"Well—" I started.

"I know what makes him different!" Ethan snapped. "It's—it's just not fair."

"Life isn't fair, especially for a half-blood." I replied.

"Especially for an_ unclaimed_ half-blood," Levi put in.

We walked for a few more minutes in silence until we got to the archery range. We looked around, but saw no teacher. Only The Demeter cabin and Lee and his half-brother Michael Yew stood at the head of the range. They were the two best archers at camp and I had forgotten we were doubling up on archery today with Demeter's kids.

"Where's Chiron?" one of the Hermes kids called.

"He has some, er… special matters that he needs to take care of." Lee explained.

"So we have no class today?" One of the Stolls asked excitedly.

"No, no, of course you have class today!" Michael Yew said impatiently.

"Ah, man…"

"So, anyways, let's get started."

Levi pulled his magical bow and quiver out of thin air and the rest of us went to the bow shack to get equipment.

"Where are the rest of your siblings?" Luke questioned the Apollo kids.

"Oh, they're playing volleyball with the satyrs. Trying to regain our honor as sportsmen. You know, the usual." Lee replied.

"That's not fair!" One of other campers called. "We have to do stupid archery and your cabin gets to play games?"

"You guys are scheduled to play volleyball every Monday and Saturday!" Michael yelled at the camper.

"He has a point, so why are you trying to cause trouble?" Luke told the kid.

"But, well—you… ya know!" the kid stammered. But by this time no one was listening and everyone was causing a commotion over such a frivolous matter.

Luke, Lee, Michael, and I were trying to get the campers settled down, but they weren't paying any attention, and one thing somehow led to another, and the campers started taking sides for Poseidon or Zeus. I looked over at Ethan, Harley, and Levi, and they were watching all the "carnage," trying their best not to die laughing. I walked over to them and asked "How did this Zeus/Poseidon standoff nonsense leak out?"

"I don't know," Harley laughed, "But this is hilarious!"

"I agree." Her brother said.

"This is no time to be laughing!" I shook my head at them disapprovingly.

Ethan got control of himself and calmed down. "Shiloh's right; this is serious. It looks like a war is breaking out, and not just in the camp."

"Wait a second!" Levi just seemed to notice. "How do you know anything about a Zeus/Poseidon standoff? Why didn't you tell us before?" He asked me.

"Oh, uh, selected disinformation?" I suggested. "Luke had told me about it a few days ago, but he told me not to tell anyone." I shrugged remembering Luke pulling me aside to tell me. "I didn't think much of it, I just thought that it was an idea he had, not reality!" I looked over at Luke, who was still trying to get control of the campers.

"But we're your friends! You tell us everything, including stuff you weren't supposed to." Harley reminded me. "Remember that time the Stolls trusted you for some weird reason, and let you in on that prank they were pulling on the entire camp?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember that, and then you guys ruined the whole thing." I laughed.

"C'mon, Shiloh," Levi whined. "You didn't really want green hair, did you?"

"Well, no," I admitted. "Anyway, I just didn't think much of—"

I was cut off by Michael shouting through a megaphone he must've got from the Big House.

"Y'all will shut up now or there will be consequen-" He yelled, but on 'consequences' an ear splitting crack of the thunder rang out and lightning webbed across the sky. We all looked speechlessly at the clouds as it began to rain.

"This is bad, very, very, bad." Ethan said.

* * *

><p>We all huddled inside our cabins until the rain subsided. We could've kept going on with our daily activities in the rain, but we were in shock. It shouldn't be raining here, and we were afraid that because of that, we could get hit by lightning or something weird.<p>

We walked outside to find the camp completely wet, which I—and probably no one else here, for that matter—had seen before. But when we looked at the sky, there was no grey, just blue. There were no clouds in sight, which was a shocker.

I was walking past Half-Blood Hill, when I saw Chiron, Argus, and three campers standing next to the pine tree. Just then Luke ran past me calling Percy's name, carrying a shoe box in hands.

So that's who it was. I strained my eyes to see them, and it appeared to be Percy, Annabeth, and—and, Grover, I think. Could this possibly be... be a quest that they were going on? If so, why bring Grover? I was thinking about this and didn't notice the group leave down the other side of the hill. Luke ran back down and I caught him by the arm as he was passing me.

"What is it?" he turned to face me.

"Is—is it a quest they're going on?" I stammered.

Luke just sighed and looked longingly at the hill, probably remembering his own quest that didn't quite go as well as expected. After a few moments, he replied "There's a great force rising, Shiloh. What its cause is, many could see in two different lights. Good… or evil. Listen to those little voices in your head to help guide you." And with that, he walked away.

"Since when did Luke become so cryptic?" I heard Ethan's voice.

I turned around and he was standing behind me. "Since when do you eavesdrop?"

"Good point." He nodded. "Anyway, I couldn't help but listen."

"Hmm…" I couldn't help but wonder how Luke knew I had 'little voices in my head'. Maybe he figured that everyone does.

"Something bothering you, Shiloh?" He must've concluded from the face I was making.

"Well, the little voices in my head—"

Ethan cut me off with a laugh. "C'mon, everyone has voices in their heads that tell them stuff! Usually the wrong things, too." His face darkened.

I didn't finish my sentence, but I got a feeling I shouldn't tell him what I was thinking. I forced a smile and said "Yeah, I guess so. Hey, did you see that Percy got a quest?"

"Yeah, I was listening. But who cares? You want me to put up a big 'hurrah!' for him?"

"No, I was just wondering."

"Okay, well, I have to get ready for the canoe races… yippee me," he said sarcastically. "I'll see you later." He walked away.

This gave me something to think about. What great force? And come to think of it, for the last few days since capture the flag night, I haven't had any weird, creepy visions of that thing, or heard any weird voices in my head! It was like whatever it was fell silent… I was free! I started walking back to commons area happily, thinking I wasn't going to be having anymore creepiness or problems or heartaches in general, but, boy, was I naive to think that.

**Ooooh, what's gonna happen? Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, well, I thought I wasn't going to be able to live up to my promise of getting at least one chapter on a week, but I did. I was sick for the latter part of this past week, so I got almost no writing done. So I wrote almost everything in this chapter today! Fun. But anyway, scratch my promise, cause I doubt I'll be able to live up to it. And my mom wants me and my siblings to take an electronic vacation, so, you know, no writing documents on my computer. But hey! You can't blame her, we're on electronics all day. And I'm still not feeling quite 'up to par' so sorry this chapter is a bit shorter than the rest. Oh, and I would like to thank Elmethea for their excelent peice of advice. I was planning on taking out the bold print anyway, because I'm sure you guys have got my point that I don't have anything to do with those sentences. And besides, from here on out, there's not going to be much from the actual books. And on that note, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything PJO**

**Chapter Six- The Proposition**

Ethan seemed pretty happy for a few days after Percy and Annabeth left. Especially Annabeth. Though he really seemed to dislike Percy, he had more resentment for Annabeth, for what reasons, I don't have any idea. Now don't get me wrong, my friends and I all dislike Annabeth to an extant, so it's not like we disagreed with him. But still…

It still stormed and rained occasionally for the week after the quest took off, but by the time June fourteenth rolled around, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

"Strange, but nice." I said looking out the window of the Hermes cabin.

"I couldn't agree more." Ethan replied. He was going to say something else, but just then a nasty set of shouts went up. We rushed outside to see quite a few campers holding Clarisse away from what looked like the whole Athena cabin.

"You have no idea what you're saying." Malcolm stepped forward and got into Clarisse's face. "You're not using your brain as usual, because if you were, you would side with Zeus too."

This made Clarisse even angrier and she tried to charge, but Malcolm just laughed at her. "You have no idea why I'm backing Poseidon," She growled. "Cause if you did, you would understand, you little punk!"

He laughed some more and said, "Why, Clarisse, explain to me why you support a two-faced Olympian who just wants to get revenge on his brother?"

The Ares girl tried to come up with an answer but couldn't figure one out. She seemed to calm down a bit and the others let her go. "Fine, wise guy, have your way. See if I care." She turned to leave, but I knew that wasn't the real Clarisse. Just on cue, she turned around and tried to pulverize the Athena kid, but he ducked out of the way and she got another one caught in her grasp. "I'll settle for one of your siblings then!" She shouted gleefully.

I didn't exactly want to stick around to watch the carnage, so I turned away with my friends. But just then, I heard Luke hiss, "Shiloh, Ethan, you two," he pointed at the twins, "Come, I have a little, er… offer I want to make." He said with that mischievous smile of his.

I was reluctant. "No, I don't really feel like seeing about any offers right now…"

"Oh, come on, Shiloh!" Levi prodded.

"Fine." We headed toward Half-Blood Hill as shouts of "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" rang out through the air.

Once we got to the hill, Luke spread his hands out as if showing us all the bounty of camp. "You see all this?" He picked up a clump of wet soil and grass.

"Dirt?" Harley asked.

"No," Luke said with strained patience. "Camp, its strawberry fields, forests, all the richness that makes it so wonderful."

"Well, yeah," Ethan began. "Now, if you just brought us up here for sight-seeing, I think I'll be leaving now, thank you."

"Wait," Luke exclaimed for a split second, then regained his cool. "All of this and all the other possibilities that could come from it. Trash," He said throwing the dirt into the air. "It's worthless."

"I—I don't get what you mean." I said confusedly.

Then he spread his arms again like we were all one happy family. "Look at you guys! Young, naïve… _unclaimed_." There was that hated word again. Levi flinched a little.

"Your point?" Harley gritted her teeth.

"I can make you worth something, something more than this pitiful camp could ever do."

A bitter taste came into my mouth. That sounded a whole lot like the same thing the monster said, even though I hadn't had any weird dreams for nearly two weeks.

"But we could become heroes," Levi protested. "We could get a quest and—"

"No! _Heroes_… worthless. You think you can get a quest just like that?" He looked down at the camp silently.

Levi looked like he wanted to protest, but he stayed silent. Just then, Luke's face changed into a happy grin. "Percy! Is that Annabeth too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

We were all confused as to whom he started talking to, but we figured out that it was an Iris message that must've popped up due to the unnatural rainbow that came out of nowhere. And it was obviously the quest members he was talking to.

All of a sudden, a vibrating thumping noise came out of the Iris message, like a car's speakers on too loud.

"What's that noise?" he yelled. Levi started to walk up to see, but Luke shot us a quick 'stay back and out of sight' look.

They kept talking for a while, and Luke told him about the fight in camp and all that stuff. Finally he said his goodbyes ending with something about no one will get turned into a tree this time if Grover just tries. I looked over at Thalia's tree, feeling sad about the terrible fate she had landed.

Luke's face hardened again, and he looked at us. "So, about my little proposition. There's a new force rising, even more powerful than the gods. I need some help getting a little troop started, and I figured you guys would like to help."

We just stood there, staring at him in shocked silence for how blunt he had been with us, like we were his closest friend or something. "L-like, to _oppose_ this supposed new force?" Ethan stammered.

"Of course not!" He laughed like that should be evident.

"I'm not sure I understand…" I said warily. Could this be the force in the pit?

Then Luke looked at me like he could tell what I was thinking. "Yes, Shiloh, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about."

All of my friends' eyes were on me. I swallowed hard and tried to say something, but it came out as a strangled wheeze.

"Gods…" Luke muttered. "I thought you said she was prepared!"

"Who are you talking to?" Levi asked.

I didn't expect Luke to answer, but he did, and it scared the wits out of me. "My master. The one who rises." The sky darkened and a cloud passed over the sun as he smiled evilly, and the scar on his face just made it worse.

"No," I rejected his offer. "I don't know what exactly that thing is, but… I won't do it!"

Luke obviously wasn't going to give up easily. "Power, glory, _respect_—things you have never had are now right at your fingertips! Just join The Rising!" He took on a sly smile. "We could even help with your… _parent problem_."

That seemed to take Levi. "Y-you could?"

"Of course!" He said with a convincing smile.

"I'm in!"

Harley smacked her brother. "We need to give this some thought," She glared at Levi. "Before we jump to rash decisions."

Luke just sighed. "I'm sorry, but you have to decide here and now. _Time_ won't permit us to dally any longer."

The way he said _Time_ gave me the jitters, like it was a person rather than… whatever you consider time to be. A horrible thought dawned on me. "Tartarus!" I exclaimed, remembering the pit I was standing at.

"What?" Harley asked, clearly confused, but Luke just nodded and smiled.

"I see you're starting to put the pieces together. You're smarter than many, Shiloh, clever indeed."

I was disgusted. "Don't listen to him guys, you don't want to mess with what he's trying to do." The looks on their faces told me they didn't understand.

"Go ahead, tell them your suspicions." Luke coaxed.

I finally found my voice and muttered "Titans."

Harley gasped and Ethan shook his head, Levi was mystified.

"Why us? I mean, we're just unclaimed campers, you could pick better people." Ethan finally said.

"It's because you're unclaimed that we want you, it's… helpful."

"No." I put down my foot. "We can't do this."

Luke looked like he wanted to protest, but he sighed as he saw that my friends stood with me. "I really thought you would say yes, Shiloh. You seemed ready, and so did your friends," He glanced at Levi. "But no matter, I guess I will just have to kill you four."

Harley took a step back. "Whoa, why?"

Levi nodded his head. "I agree, that's harsh."

"Well, you know too much now. I can't possibly let you run around telling people about our little secret, now can I?"

"We'll swear not to tell on the River Styx." Ethan offered. Distant thunder rumbled across the sky.

"Promises," Luke shook his head. "So unreliable. Look where The Big Three's oath got them." He waved his hand to Thalia's tree. "How about this: because you turned down my perfectly reasonable proposition, we can negotiate."

Reasonable? This guy was crazy, but I spoke up anyway. "Negotiate _what_?"

"Keep quiet, and I'll make your death less painful."

It wasn't much, but I stuck out my hand, a plan forming in my mind. "Deal."

"Good." He smiled like nothing had ever happened. "Now I have some meddling to do." And with that, he ran down the hill.

Levi took a shaky breath. "Why did he let us off the hook so easily?"

"And why didn't he kill us right here, right now?" Ethan asked.

"He obviously wants us for some reason or another, but I have a good feeling it's not good." I concluded.

"I've got a feeling, too." Harley said. "A feeling that we should make a run for it."

"Yeah, we shouldn't stick around here anymore, it's too dangerous." Ethan agreed.

"Tonight?"

"Yeah."

And with those few words, we had our plan.

**Yayz! I finally finished the chapter! Seemed like it took forever to write!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I feel slightly review-deprived... so thank you darklilyofthevalley for reviewing every chapter so faithfully. Knowing that at least ONE person in the whole wide world sincerely appreciates my writing makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside :) Anyway, this chapter is where things really start to take off, so enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: ...Do I really have to? HOW MANY TIMES IN THIS DANG WORLD MUST I SAY "I DON'T OWN PJO?" WHY CAN'T YOU PEOPLE JUST REMEMBER?**

**Chapter Seven- The Run**

We decided to get our stuff packed that afternoon. Harley found us three backpacks, two for clothes, one for supplies. She also managed to find us a collection of useful stuff: A sandwich baggy of ambrosia, a canteen of nectar, fifty golden drachmas (which took up quite a bit of room), two hundred dollars in mortal money (I was surprised she was able to get the camp store to loan her that much), a couple canteens of water, some energy bars, matches, duct tape, and an extra celestial bronze knife or two.

We packed our clothes and hid the backpacks, and the next task was for me to arrange a signal. We decided not to tell Chiron, because this could cause an extra-painful death, and besides, he would try to protect us, or not even believe us, so we decided to skip him. There was only one person I knew that I could trust with our secret.

"Lee!" I called to him as I ran up to the range. "I've been searching all over camp for you, and you're at the archery range all by yourself, _during_ free time?"

He shrugged. "How do you think I'm the best at what I do?" He turned and shot a volley of arrows at one target and they all hit the center, but he didn't look satisfied. "Besides, I'm trying to stay away from all the fights."

True, Lee wasn't one to get involved in fights, he was better with a bow or a sword than with his fists.

"Well, there something, um… can you do a favor for me?" I stammered. I started feeling shaky, like Luke's eyes were on me.

Lee put down his bow and walked over. "Is something wrong? You got pale all of a sudden."

I laughed nervously. "Something wrong is most definitely an understatement." I lowered my voice down to a whisper and told him the whole story.

He pondered this for a while. Final he sighed and said "So let me get this straight. You're going to run away with Ethan, Harley, and Levi. You want me to let you know if Luke leaves camp at any point so I can let you guys know that it's okay to come back. And it's because it'll be safe because he's turned into a ravaging lunatic and wants to kill all of you, and if he's not at camp the threat will be gone. And I can't tell anyone."

"_Anyone_, that even means people you trust. And that basically sums it up." I nodded. "Or even let us know if Percy comes back."

"Why?"

"Um… I'm not sure, but I feel that it would be safe then." I really wasn't sure why, but a little voice told me to trust it would work. Bah, all these voices were messing with my head.

"Okay, I will." He agreed, but he looked even more worried than I thought I did.

"What's wrong?"

"… I, um, don't want you to get hurt…" We both knew he didn't really mean _hurt_, he meant _killed_.

I tried to put on a brave smile and said "We'll be fine, right? We—we know how to take care of ourselves…" But it just sounded like I was trying to convince myself.

"So I'll signal you if Luke leaves or if Percy comes back… and if Percy doesn't… well, we all won't be here soon enough."

True, he had a point. A lumped swelled in my throat. "I—I don't want this to be our goodbye, Lee… I…" Tears started to form in my eyes. No, I told myself. You don't cry. You're the tough daughter Joshua Lawson, respected lawyer of St. Louis, the man who's favorite quote is 'Crying will get you nowhere. Suck it up, and move on with life.'

He put his hand on my shoulder. "It doesn't have to be. Find me tonight before you leave, okay? At the volleyball pit during the campfire."

"Okay, I will." I didn't want him to see me cry, so I ran off right away.

* * *

><p>"Did you find someone?" Levi asked when I got back to the cabin.<p>

"Yeah."

"Who?"

"Does it matter?" I snapped back.

"Okay, okay, I was just wondering. What if we get an Iris message from whoever it is while you're asleep or something?"

"Oh," That did make sense. I was just feeling irritable and a wave of anxiety washed over me. "Sorry."

"Girls." Levi muttered.

"You've got something to say to me?"

"Um, er, no! I was just saying… how girls are so… um, yeah, never mind."

"Never mind is right." I cracked a smile.

"I feel like taking one more walk around camp." Harley announced.

"You make it sound like we're never coming back." Her brother joked.

"We might not, you moron. Now, who wants to come with me?"

Neither Levi or Ethan said anything, but I figured it might be nice. "Let's go."

"Don't cause any trouble, you two." Levi called after us.

Once we got outside, Harley sighed and rolled her eyes. "My brother… he's such an idiot sometimes."

We started walking around the cabins, then past the canoe lake. "Aren't all boys?" I chuckled, but it didn't seem to fix whatever was bothering her.

"I just don't know what to think about them anymore—"

Just then she was cut off by a voice. "Hey, Harley!"

She rolled her eyes again. "What do you want, Malcolm?"

The Athena boy flashed her a smile. Everyone knew he'd had a major crush on Harley since she arrived at camp about two years ago. She absolutely despised him, one, because he was Annabeth's brother and second in command, and two, he was always attempting to hit on her. "Are you busy?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Oh, well, I was just wondering if you wanted to—"

"No."

I couldn't help but suppress a smile. "Malcolm, don't you have somewhere to be?" I asked.

He completely disregarded me. "You didn't even let me ask my question!"

"I know."

"C'mon Harley," He whined and gave her puppy dog eyes, but she stuck her hand in his face and pushed him away. "Just give me a chance!" He said getting up from the puddle of mud his crush just pushed him in.

We had already started walking away, but Harley turned around and stamped her foot. "I don't like you, okay, Malcolm? Why can't you just take that fact like a man and leave me alone already? If you really like me, respect my wishes by staying away from me!" With that, she started stomping down the hill.

"I won't ever give up on you, Sweetie!" We heard him call, but Harley just ignored him.

"Arg!" She yelled when he was out of earshot. "Why won't guys just leave me alone?" It was true, a lot of guys liked her, but she shunned them all away. In fact, the only guys she ever hung out with and even appreciated their existence were Levi and Ethan, and even then they still got on her nerves sometimes. And as much as she didn't like to admit it, Harley was beautiful, with her mane of curly hair, freckled face, and lovely blue eyes, but if there was one thing she hated, it was all the shallow guys who only liked girls for their looks. And I respected her for that, and I especially agree with her on that but… It seems like we still have a difference in opinion when it comes to things like guys.

Anyway, as we walked, so many wonderful memories came back. Like one of the first times they were picking strawberries all together, Levi had almost none in his basket; he had eaten most of them and the rest were smashed on his face. Or that other time when…

We were reminiscing fun times when the conch blew for dinner. I sighed. "Our last dinner here…"

Harley didn't say anything, but she kept her head down as we headed toward the dining pavilion.

"I would like to think that we'll come back, but…" My voice choked up.

We were back at the canoe lake when Harley finally said something. She looked at me, and her face was red like she had been crying. Her voice quavered as she talked. "I would too, Shiloh, but… nothing is ever set in stone, right? Leaving camp because it's not safe is like leaving home because Dad is threatening to shoot you."

That thought made me sad, and we didn't talk anymore until after dinner.

* * *

><p>"Are we ready?" Ethan asked as we got back to our cabin. Everyone else was at the campfire, so we were alone.<p>

I strapped the sheath holding Isorropías to my belt, hoping the Mist would hide it. Ethan did the same with his sword, and Harley hid her dagger—Dóxa, or glory—under her shirt sleeve.

"I think so." I said as we shouldered our bags and walked out of the cabin. We had made it to Half-Blood Hill, the same place Luke had talked to us, when I remembered something.

"Oh my gods, I forgot to—herm, I mean I forgot to get something, uh, I left my good combat boots in the cabin!" I made an excuse to go back.

"Seriously, Shiloh?" Levi asked annoyed.

"It's okay," Ethan shot Levi a look. "Go back, but hurry it up."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Harley asked.

"Um, no! I'll—I'll be fine." And I ran back towards the cabins.

I picked up my boots first so my friends wouldn't ask questions. Then I headed over to the sand volleyball pit. Lee was there, just like he promised. "I thought you wouldn't come!" He smiled as I walked over to him.

"Oh yeah, haha…" I put my head down embarrassed.

We just stood there in an awkward silence for a moment when he broke the quiet. "I, um, wanted to give you this before you… left." He said _left_ like he was saying _die_. He undid the leather camp necklace around his neck and took off a ring. "This… this belonged to my mother before she…" His voice trailed off. "So yeah, anyway, I want you to have it, and…" he shifted uncomfortably as I strung the ring onto my own camp necklace.

"Lee! Thank you, this is so…" I couldn't think of what to say, but he saved me from saying anything stupid.

"Just keep it to remember me, and… be safe, Shiloh." He said quietly.

Tears stung my eyes, but I pushed them away once again. "I will." I promised and he gave me a tight hug. I hope he couldn't tell I was trying to hold back a sob, and when I was far enough away, I let it out. I turned around, and all I could see was his silhouette waving a last good-bye. I waved back and ran up the hill to meet my friends.

"What took you so long?" Levi asked when I reached them.

"I, uh…"

"Just kidding! But anyways, here, shove your dang shoes into this bag." He passed me a backpack.

The four of us took one last look at camp. The brightly glowing campfire, the smell of smoke, and the faint sound of singing. The forest and the cabins, the baby blue Big House.

"This home…" Ethan said grimly, with a twinge of sadness in his voice. "Isn't for us anymore. As much as we will miss it."

I looked at Harley, who choked back a sob. "We all will miss it."

"But," I started. I couldn't believe it was actually time to go, but these words had to come sooner or later. "Let's just keep this last—er, I mean, this possibly last memory of camp in our minds forever. But we need to go now."

"I agree." Ethan said.

Our group turned, and we trudged down the hill off into the real world. The great unknown that we all hadn't experienced for at least two year was now becoming a reality, and the threat of death was even greater. We all prepared for the worst—death—and knew there was no turning back now. These thoughts were all on our minds that fateful night as the shroud of darkness consumed us.

**Sooo, what do you think? This is your cue to simply press the review button and... REVIEW!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Long Chapter! I hope it makes you happy :) Oh, and, as you read, you'll sort of figure out that this story is based in summer '05, the year the Lightning Thief came out, which should be obvious, cause Riordan obviously meant for the book to be set in 2005, not 2011, like some people portray it. So anyway, I'm just clearing that up so that no one get's confused.**

**Disclaimer: ...No, I don't own it. **

**Chapter Eight- Dreams**

That first night out on our own wasn't all that bad. We all took shifts watching, and no monsters attacked us. I thought things would go pretty well on this trip, but that was naïve of me.

The next day we decided that we needed to make a plan, and it started with Levi asking a question that we hadn't thought of.

"So… where exactly are we going?"

"Oh," I laughed timidly. I couldn't believe that we didn't even think of that! "Well, I'm not sure."

"Do any of us even have family in New York?" Harley asked.

"My dad lives in Missouri." I answered. "And I don't think I have any family here."

"I don't either," Ethan sighed. "But I thought that you two have an aunt or something around… Manhattan or something?"

The twins' faces both fell, like someone had just told them their dad died… which he had. But after a moment of silence, they both shook their heads.

"No," Harley started. "Our aunt… well, that's a long story, and well, she's not exactly… I don't know."

"It's a strange story," Levi agreed. "But our Aunt Caroline isn't our aunt."

Ethan and I just stared at them blankly. They weren't making any sense.

They seemed to sense our confusion. "Whatever," Levi waved it aside. "But no, we lived in New York City, not Manhattan. You know, Manhattan is where the Empire State Building is, and NYC is where the Twin Towers were…" His voice wavered.

Ooh, touchy subject. Harley took a shaky breathe. "Anyway, our grandparents also live there, and we went to stay with them after our dad died because our aunt couldn't take care of us."

This was the closest I had ever gotten to hearing about their past. I didn't want to sound crude, but I was really curious. "Why didn't you stay with them?" I asked softly.

"They hated us," Levi replied.

"No they didn't!" Harley argued. "We just didn't feel… right with them. So we ran away early 2002, lived as street rats for a while, and arrived at camp about, oh, summer 2003?"

Levi nodded his head in agreement. "And so we've been at camp ever since—until last night, at least."

I wasn't willing to ask them the question that was nagging at me, but apparently Ethan was. "So, er... Do you mind if I ask what happened to your father?"

"Yes!" They shouted at the same time.

"Sorry," Ethan muttered.

We just sat quietly in the forest we were traveling through. I looked around, trying to get an idea of how far we were from New York City. I decided to break the silence. "So… do you think your grandparents would care if we stayed with them for a little while?"

Harley raised an eyebrow. "I don't know… but it's worth a shot, I guess."

"So we're just going to show up on their doorstep and expect them to let us in?" Ethan asked with disbelief.

"That sounds like our plan." Levi said. "We just need to make our way to the city, and I know how to get there once we hit the outskirts of town."

"Let's get moving," Harley said as she got up and shouldered her bag.

* * *

><p>On our trek we decided to look for a diner or something, but the rest of the time we walked in silence. I guess our little talk really pained Harley and Levi, because they weren't at all their normal cheerful selves.<p>

We followed a farm road for five hours or so, resting for about fifteen minutes every other hour. And then we stumbled upon our first monster. Ethan saw it first. "Stop!" He hissed and we halted abruptly.

About twenty yards away, attacking a bee hive, was a hellhound. This was the second one I had ever seen, the first one being the one that attacked Percy. The thing was giant, and black as night.

Levi pulled out his bow and notched an arrow, but the hound seemed to sense it. It turned around and barked, then started bounding straight at us. But not in that puppyish _I'm-so-happy-to-see-you _way, but more in the _YAY, LUCHTIME!_ way. Its eyes glowed red with hatred and I figured we looked a lot more appetizing than an annoying beehive.

The beast seemed to put Levi in a state of shock, and he didn't fire the arrow.

"_Shoot_! Levi, fire _now_!" Harley screamed, but her brother just stood there. The hound was almost on us. Harley forced her brother's clamped fingers which were on the string free, shooting the arrow, but it missed. The monster jumped on us for the kill, but it landed with a limp_ umph_, and we were pinned under a heavy blanket of fur. I looked over and saw Ethan's sword sticking up through the monster's body.

"Ow," Levi groaned. A hellhound landing on him seemed to shake him from his fearful trance.

The hound's body melted away into shadow, and we started to get up. "_Levi_!" Harley yelled at her brother. "_What the Hades _is your problem?You almost got us—" she tried to get up, but winced.

"What's wrong?" I knelt down beside her.

"My ribs," She groaned.

"I am so, so sorry, Harley." Her brother said wearily as he sat down. "I just don't know what happened…"

"It's okay," Ethan put his hand on Levi's shoulder. "We all make mistakes. I guess the shock of not being at camp and confronting a monster was just too traumati—um, I mean, never mind… just don't worry about it."

"Yeah right," Levi muttered.

I felt Harley's ribs, and she grimaced, trying not to show pain. "Not broken." I sighed with relief. "Just badly bruised, nothing to worry about." I gave her some ambrosia to eat.

"Better," She murmured as she tried to stand. "I think I can walk well enough now. Thanks, Shi."

"No prob."

Ethan whistled. "How did you learn to determine things like broken ribs?"

I felt my face got hot. "Um, you know, I picked some things up from Lee."

I saw Levi smirk a little, but didn't say anything.

"What?" I demanded.

"Nothing."

I punched his arm. "Ow! What was that for?"

Harley laughed, but winced again.

* * *

><p>We kept walking till nightfall, and surprisingly, we found no shops or diners, and we had only passed one gas station. "That's strange." Ethan observed. "I would've at least expected something more than a gas station."<p>

Levi shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe this isn't a very populated area."

Ethan didn't seem satisfied with that answer, but he changed the subject. "So, I don't think it's safe to keep walking into the night, so let's set up camp a little farther into the forest." He glanced at Harley, whose shoulders were slumped and her feet dragging on the ground. She was still hugging herself around the ribs, like they bothered her.

"Yeah, good idea." She mumbled.

Once we found a nice clearing about a quarter mile into the forest, we collapsed with exhaustion. "Well," Levi sighed. "I think we were a little over ambitious when it came to how far we traveled."

We nodded our heads in agreement.

"So…" Ethan looked at me. "Who exactly did you pick to let us know when camp is safe again? I mean, safe for us, at least."

"Oh yeah, uh, Lee,"

"Which Lee?" Levi asked, even though I'm sure he knew.

"How many other Lee's are there at camp?" I asked irritably.

"Um, well, there's that daughter of Demeter, Leigh… um, Smithson?" He looked at questionably at his sister.

"Smithins." She corrected.

"Oh yeah! Leigh Smithins, you know Lee's twin?"

"Right, I forgot about her." At camp we had an on-running joke. Lee and Leigh both have blonde hair and blue eyes, and seem to be pretty good friends, not to mention they look quite a bit alike. So when Vanessa Samson, daughter of Aphrodite, first got to camp a few years ago, she asked if they were twins. We thought it was pretty funny for some strange reason, so now we call them the twins, Lee and Leigh.

"So I'm assuming Fletcher." Ethan concluded.

"Yes, Fletcher, not Smithins." I replied. I felt myself getting red again.

The guys seemed to sense my discomfort, and Ethan got up. "C'mon, Levi, let's go get some wood for a fire."

"I don't feel like getting up!"

"_Now_."

And with more whining, Levi got up and the guys headed off to find firewood, which we needed anyway.

Harley smiled. "You like him, don't you?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Yeah right, Shiloh." She made a face at me. "You know you and Lee were meant for each other."

I'm sure my face was burning by now. "Shut up,"

"Okay, okay, whatever."

"Yeah, well, what about you, Harley?" I teased. "I'm sure you have someone too."

She got a faraway look in her eyes and gazed up at the stars. "No, I don't think I do."

I just looked at her and shook my head.

"What? If I did, I would tell you!"

"Sure, sure."

"Whatever, Shiloh! But, um, I was thinking—" She was about to finish that thought when we heard the boys tripping through the woods. They appeared out of the underbrush, both with their arms full of wood.

"We're back!" Levi called.

"We see," His sister muttered.

Once the boys got the campfire going, we all sat back and ate some food that we picked up at the gas station. It didn't feel right sitting around the camp fire, just the four of us, and not singing. It was a tradition to sing around a campfire! _This isn't camp,_ I had to tell myself, _it's the real world_. I could tell that my friends were feeling the same way by their expressions. We already felt homesick and we had only been gone for a day.

"Well," Levi said. "This is… fun."

None of us said anything, and Ethan just stared grimly into the fire.

"Um, okay then…" He sighed, then laid down. "It's been a long day, and, uh, I think I'll turn in for the night." He rolled over so we couldn't see his face. This first day had probably been harder on him than he had let on: first, we brought up bad memories for him and Harley. Then he was scared so badly because we were alone out here in the world with no one to protect us from monsters just in case they went berserk, and we almost became hellhound chow. Then because he didn't kill it right away, Harley got hurt.

At that moment, I realized how wiped out _I_ was. Walking all day drained us, even though we trained constantly. I yawned and Ethan looked at me and then at Harley. "Why don't you turn in, too? You guys look tired. I'll take first watch."

I wanted to argue that I could take first watch, 'cause Ethan took it last night. Harley didn't object and lied down. She looked so happy when she closed her eyes, my own eyelids started to droop.

"Okay," I said warily. But as soon as I closed my eyes, sleep brought bad dreams.

* * *

><p>I was back at the pit. <em>"You think you can escape me that easily, little hero?"<em> The terrible ancient voice, Kronos, echoed. _"Just because you got away from Luke, doesn't mean you have gotten away from me. I am _always_ watching you."_

I tried to argue, and he just laughed.

_"I am sure you think their quest is going all right, that they will succeed. But they won't. I have made sure that Percy Jackson will fail."_

_"No you can't! He's a child of Poseidon!"_ My voice came out like a squeak. And besides, my argument sounded dumb.

The voiced laughed disapprovingly. _"You are foolish, child. His parentage is of no worth. I shall crush him and the gods under my foot. Olympus will fall and you and your precious camp will be destroyed!"_

A tear streaked down my face. I tried to stop it, but I couldn't do much of anything but talk shakily. I could feel its eyes on me, examining me, looking into my very soul. _"You fear for his safety,"_ He concluded, and then laughed so abruptly, I was startled.

_"N-no I don't! Ethan doesn't care for him, a-and neither do I!"_

The voice disregarded that. _"How about this,"_ He said with his best let's-make-a-deal voice. _"If you pledge me your allegiance, or even get your puny friends to follow me, then I will allow his quest to follow through. But if not… you know what will happen."_

I was angry that he still wanted me to join him, even though he basically called me insignificant earlier on. And besides, I was sure that he was lying about working out Percy's quest. So basically, now I just felt like being defiant. _"Um… no. I'm not going to, and you can't make me!"_ I almost added a _haha!_ But decided it might not be the smartest thing to do.

_"Hmm,"_ He pondered this. _"Okay, then, I'll show you just how well their little quest is going, then you might reconsider."_

The image faded and I was now standing at another place. Well, not exactly standing, more like floating… or flying, or something. But anyway, I was in a dark tunnel, looking at stuff I didn't understand. Cupids and hearts, Valentine's Day stuff. Then I heard a rushing noise, like… like water, and two people screaming. Then there really was a rush of water, and a pink and white boat flew past me on a wave. And on it were two screaming kids—Percy and Annabeth.

My mind flew along with them until we shot out of the tunnel into a star filled night. They headed straight for a giant medal gate at fifty miles an hour. Just as they were about to crash, my vision went black and I was back at the edge of Tartarus.

"_You see,"_ The voice said like it was the most obvious thing. _"They are sure to fail. They are about to die and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Except—"_

_"I know!"_ I growled.

_"Then what is your decision?"_

_"No!"_

_"Fine, then,"_ The voice said smugly. _"Pleasant dreams."_

The rest of my sleep was filled with nightmares, but nothing that related to what I just saw. Just old fears coming back to haunt me. The last one was the worst… I was back home in St. Louis, and I saw my dad sitting in the small living room of his apartment. And the strange thing was, Ethan, the twins, and… and Nik and Scarlet were in there with him. But I wasn't in the building, I was outside, and a giant storm was brewing in the background. A shadowy hand came out and crushed the building. I tried to scream for my dad and my friends, but once again, my voice wasn't working. The monster came towards me, and it laughed, its giant foot stomping down on me.

I woke up screaming to the smell of frying bacon. My friends stared at me. "Um, you okay, Shi?" Harley looked at me.

"Oh, um… you know. Dreams."

"You too?" Ethan shook his head.

"What do you mean?"

"We all have been having pretty unsettling dreams lately. Something bad is starting." Ethan replied darkly.

"Um, yeah," Harley started. "Kronos is rising—"

"Do _not_ speak of him!" Ethan snapped. We all just stared at him because of his sudden out lash. "I mean, it's bad luck… just… keep him off your mind."

"He's sending you guys dreams, too, isn't he?" I asked.

Ethan didn't respond. Neither did Levi or Harley. This gave me a bad feeling, so I decided to change the subject. I looked around for something, then I looked at the fire. "How did you get bacon?"

"Oh, haha," Harley laughed, obviously relieved to get off the subject of our dreams. "I kind of found it in the camp fridge, along with some, er, other stuff."

"How exactly did you fit that _other stuff_ into the bag?" Ethan asked.

"Oh, I had Vanessa Samson from the Aphrodite cabin charm it so it holds a ton of stuff, but it will only last for about a month. Oh, and it drained her so much to do this one that she wasn't able to get the other two charmed."

"Oh, okay."

We ate and then we started our journey again, but none of us felt settled. Kronos was sending us all dreams, and why, we didn't know. We were insignificant. We didn't even know who one of our parents was! We all kept on walking silently, our minds lost in our own horrible dreams and pasts that we tried so hard to forget about, but still haunted us. And what we didn't realize was that with each step we took, the closer we got to our painful destinies.

**A/N: So, I'm not sure if your starting to peice together Harley and Levi's past, but I'm planning to start writing a story about their past. So if you're interested and want me to continue on with that, review and tell me! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Well, last chapter was so long, I decided to make this one shorter! Just kidding. But really, this one is way shorter than the last, I couldn't really decide what else to put in it. And I have an announcement for all of my dedicated readers! So, as you all know, I only update my stories on the weekends. Now, I will not be uploading any chapter for any of my stories for two weeks. So that means no chapter next weekend and same with the weekend after that. Why? You ask. Well, I've tried really hard to get one chapter on every week (which may not seem like much compared to other people. But hey! I work the hardest on this story) and so I'm taking a little vacation from writing. My other reason is that sometime in the next two weeks I will be heading off to camp. Church camp, not Camp Half-Blood, though I wish... So anyway, please do enjoy this chapter as much as you can, because I'm not updating again till July. **

**Oh, and to answer the question from bookworm178040, I didn't make Ethan join Kronos for two resons: One, because that wouldn't corospond with the books, and two, it wouldn't make for a very intresting story. Remember, this story follows the books, and I want it to be intresting!**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own PJO**

**Chapter Nine- Surrounded**

We walked for days, and all we saw was the occasional gas station. Again. And it was kind of strange, because at the last station we stopped at, the man behind the counter looked exactly like the one before.

"Um, didn't we just see you at the last gas station miles back down the road?" Levi asked the man.

He just shook his head. "Sorry, sonny, but ya must 'ave me confused wi' someone else. Ta summer heat'll mess wi' yer mind." He circled a crooked finger around his ear.

"Um, okay, thanks, I guess." Levi replied. We tried to get out of there as fast as we could.

But anyway, this whole 'nothing but a few gas stations' business made us all nervous, for one reason or another. We also ran into a few monsters, but nothing too bad. And little did we know, the first real challenge of our journey lied right around the corner.

* * *

><p>We saw the green sign from quite far away. When we finally reached it, it read in those big white reflective letters with an arrow underneath: NEW YORK CITY 105 MILES.<p>

"A hundred and five miles!" Levi exclaimed. "I could've sworn that we would've been closer by now."

Ethan sighed. "Well at least we know how far away we are now. And now we've got conformation that we're going in the right direction."

"Yeah, 'cause if we were going in the wrong direction," Harley put in. "That would really suck."

Ethan looked around at us. "How are we all doing?"

"Well," Levi started to complain. "My back hurts and I haven't sat or slept on a real cushion for days."

I have to admit, I was really longing for something more comfortable than the ground, too.

Ethan was about to say something to his remark when Harley gasped and pointed. "I don't remember seeing_ that_ just a second ago."

"Wha—" Ethan turned around and so did Levi and I.

A building now stood about ten yards behind the green mile sign. In loopy red neon letters was the word DINER. An OPEN sign hung in the glass door. The building was shaped like a regular '50s dinner and rectangle windows led along the shiny tin walls that peered into the store. There were classic black and white checkered tiles and a pastel pink counter. Fluorescent tube lights with glowing neon colors raced across the wall near the ceiling and there were outlines of people eating inside.

"Oh man," Levi whimpered. "I could really use a good rest."

"Um, I'm not sure that this place is such a good idea." I tried to say, remembering some warning an older camper said about quests. 'You don't want to go into any places that either seem too good to be true, or too convenient to your needs. _Especially_ in the middle of nowhere.' Or something like that.

But Levi wasn't giving up on going in and resting, and Ethan and Harley seemed to lean with him. I finally gave up and said fine, so we all headed in.

The first thing that hit me was the people. A ton of burly men with tattoos filled the place, and their faces… some of them looked crude, like they were badly chiseled out of stone. Then some of them looked like their faces were made of wet mud, no real distinct facial features. I shivered, and the only other person who seemed to be bothered by them also was Harley, but she looked as if she was trying to dismiss it.

We sat down at a booth, which, by the way, was really comfy. We sank down into our chairs and just enjoyed the comfort of real cushions. We threw are packs at the back of the table next to the window. And the air… it smelled of wonderful things, like cooking hamburgers and French fries.

A waitress came by our table, wearing one of those pink and white striped dresses and a spotless white apron. Her salt-and-pepper hair was tied back into a bun, and she had on little pointy glasses. She just looked like any typical dinky diner type waitress, chewing gum in the side of her mouth and everything. But her eyes… they were stormy grey, and they reminded me of someone else, I just couldn't place who.

I didn't think much of her, but the twins apparently did. They stared at her with an expression on their faces—a mix between terror and amazement—and they didn't speak when she asked for our orders.

"Um, ma'am," Ethan started. "Is it fine if we just sit here for a minute? We've been traveling an awful long way, and we just need a good place to rest."

"Hmm…" The lady pondered this. "A good place to rest, eh? This ain't a very good place, then." She had a heavy Southern accent, but her voice dripped with intelligence.

I was afraid she was going to kick us out, but she just nodded and walked back to the kitchen. The men in the other booths stuck out their feet to trip her, or threw French fries—which looked disturbingly like fingers, but I knew my mind was just playing tricks on me—at her as they jeered. I felt somewhat bad for the waitress, but she just ignored them.

"What was that all about?" I asked the twins once the lady was gone.

That seemed to shake them out of their trances. "Oh, she just, uh… you know, reminded me of someone we used to know." Harley replied quietly.

"Oh, okay."

We sat there for minutes, just resting our muscles. Eventually the waitress came back, and handed Levi what appeared to be a folded business card. She looked just a little more urgent this time, and her voice was tight. "You need to go now,"

"What is this?" Levi asked, holding up the paper.

"You'll know when the time comes. But you must go now, little heroes." She gestured around the room, as if trying to silently warn us of something bad. There was a hint of stress in her voice, but otherwise, she seemed calm.

Just then, all the men stood up, their eyes on us. Wait. Some of them had their _eye_ on us. With a shock, I realized we had walked into a trap. Some of the other men grew as they stood up, their heads rubbing against the ceiling. One of them smiled wickedly at us, baring his sharp teeth.

"I think we better go, like she said." Harley squeaked. We turned back around, but the strange lady was no longer there. And thankfully, we were right next to the door. As quick as lightning, we dashed out into the fresh night air. Wait a second. _Night_ air? We walked into the monster diner sometime mid-afternoon.

I heard Harley mumble "Oh gods, how long were we in there?"

I was about to comment on that when I heard a voice in my head that sounded a lot like the waitress. It whispered _"You have my blessing, heroes, now run!"_

Ethan had a puzzled expression on his face, and Levi asked "Did you hear that?"

We nodded. "Well, I don't think this is the right time to be debating weird voices." Harley pointed at the door, where the monsters were trying to get out, but the giants were backing them up, trying to squeeze out of the door. "Run!"

We started running as fast as we could. I heard a crashing sound and pieces of ruble flew over our heads. I dared to take a peek behind my shoulder, and what I saw was not good. One of the giants crushed right through the door, leaving a huge person-shaped hole. His other fellow giant friends and cyclopeses poured out the door, swarming their way towards us.

"What are those things?" Levi asked shakily.

"Those are cyclopeses. Duh." Harley made a face at her brother. "And the others… they're some sort of cannibal giants, I think Lakegronians or something?"

"Laistrygonians," Ethan corrected. "But I don't think now is the time to be debating monsters, we need to book it!"

It was true, the monsters were gaining on us, and we were gasping for air. Sure, we went on hikes all the time back at camp, jogging through rough terrain. But now we were running for our lives through a gods forsaken forest, which I have no idea why we picked to go back through the thick trees. One, we could get lost, two, who knows what monsters may be lurking in here? And, right as I thought about 'other monsters', two giant hellhounds errupted out of the ground and started running alongside of us.

I heard Levi mumble something like, "I'm not going to fail to a stupid, over-grown mutt… _again_." He pulled out his bow and notched an arrow as we ran, taking one of the hounds out. But then he tripped over a rock slightly and dropped his bow as he regained his footing. He cursed as he looked back at his weapon which was now lying on the ground.

We still had another hound to get rid of. Ethan threw his sword at it, but missed. "I'll get that later," He grumbled. _But we might not have a later_, I thought. And by my friends' expressions, they were probably thinking the same thing.

My chest hurt, the darkness blinded us, and the rest of the monsters were almost to the point where they could snatch us up and tear us to shreds. "I think… that… we should stop… and defend ourselves…" I breathed heavily.

"With… what…?" Ethan asked.

"Um, use the extra… knives we… we brought…" But with a shock, I realized that we had left our packs at that cursed diner.

Ethan cursed. "Great… now we're… going to die…" But he stopped and breathed heavily. "Hold your ground!"

Levi pulled two arrows out of his quiver which still hung on his back, and prepared to use them like mini spears and passed one to Ethan. We stood firmly, weapons drawn, and prepared for death. The monsters stopped and circled around us as they snarled and laughed. One of the giants smiled viciously. "You puny demigods think you can hold us back? You are fools! I shall eat well tonight!"

"What do you mean _you_?" A cyclopes asked. "You should mean _me_."

All the monsters started arguing at once about who would get to eat who, and this gave us some time to breathe. We still held our weapons at ready, just in case they were to resolve their issues.

"Maybe we could just walk away without them noticing." Levi whispered.

"They're circled all around us, that won't work. They're not _that_ stupid." Harley argued.

Levi raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? For Zeus's sake, they're arguing about who gets to eat us!"

"Okay, whatever, but we need a distraction." We all looked at Levi.

"Uh, no."

"Uh, yes." I replied.

* * *

><p>After a few minutes of debating, we pushed him into the middle of the group. He yelped, and they all looked at him. "What do you want, puny mortal?" One of the cyclposes looked down at him.<p>

Levi looked back and gave us the evil eye, then turned back around. "If you nice monsters are going to eat us, can we at least pick who gets the honor?"

The monsters seemed to debate this. "Okay, puny mortal, pick."

"Stop calling me that! I mean, I want you to ever so graciously eat me." He pointed at a random giant.

Just like our plan, the other monsters jumped on the Laistrygonian and started attacking him. He quickly turned to dust. "If someone is going to eat you, it will be me!" Another bellowed, reaching out to snatch up our friend, but he jumped out of the way. Unfortunately, his claw-like fingernails racked across Levi's chest. He cried out in pain and Harley reached out to catch him.

"I'm fine," he gritted his teeth as he steadied himself.

The monster circle tightened around us, as if they could sense we were going to try to escape. A lump formed in my throat. This was just like that night I lost Scarlet. We were surrounded by hungry monsters, but at least this time we were somewhat prepared. Sort of.

And to make things worse, Harley said almost exactly the same thing Nik said that night. "Guys, if this really is goodbye, just know that you were really good friends to me."

We muttered in agreement. A hot tear rolled down my cheek and we charged.

**A/N: Ooh, first cliffie of the story! I have some big plans for upcoming chapters, so be prepared!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Yay! Time to start updating again! To tell the truth, I could barely keep my sanity the week I wasn't writing. It's something in my nature to write, I guess. And I might not get a chapter on next week because I'm going to have to put some serious work into the next one, because I have a few things planned for it, but almost nothing else. So, please enjoy this chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.**

**Chapter Ten- Choices**

We fought as we had never fought before. Harley and I slashed and dodged, and Ethan stabbed with the arrow he wielded. Levi tried his best to fight, but he wavered every now and then. Harley glanced at him nervously while trying to keep her eyes on the fight. Monsters turned to golden dust, but they just kept coming. Hellhounds were melting in from the shadows, while the giants seemed to just come from nowhere. We started off strong, but our strength and endurance started to ebb away slowly. The four of us were finally circled around a large oak, its gnarled roots seemed to wrap around our feet. We only had minutes before we were over taken.

A cyclopes's club swung around as Ethan tried to dart out to kill the thing, but it thwacked his head with a loud crack and he hit the tree. I reached down to check on him as the same club barely missed me. I turned Ethan over, but he was out cold. Anger started to boil inside of me as I saw blood trickle down his forehead. I stood up and put Isorropías into an attack position, but before I could charge at the cyclopes, I heard a sharp sound like ripping paper: A bow and arrow. I glanced over at Levi, but his magic weapon was still gone. I turned my attention back to the cyclopes, but where it once stood was a pile of sand with a club laying next to it. A silver arrow lay on top of the small dune.

Before I could wonder what had happened, the sound of a hunter's horn rang clearly through the night air. This startled the monsters, and they all turned around with a look of sheer terror on their faces. As quick as lightning, one of the giants whirled back around and grabbed me around the waist, squeezing the air out of me. I could barely hear myself think as my ribs started to crack.

The monster bellowed "I shall eat my last meal well and no demigod or Olympian can stop me!" He started to raise me to his crooked teeth, but before I could be swallowed, another silver arrow struck his hand and he dropped me. The giant bellowed in pain and gave us one last hateful look before turning to dust.

As I started to regain my breath after being dropped on my back, about a dozen girls emerged from the woods. They all had arrows notched, and seemed to be waiting for orders. A young woman in front who appeared to be the oldest nodded her head ever so slightly, and more arrows flew. We moved Ethan out of the way and hid behind a tree until the carnage stopped.

Harley was the first to step out. "Um… h-hi. Th-thanks for, er, saving us and—"

But she was cut off by another girl holding up her hand. She aimed another arrow, but this time is was at Harley. Our friend yelped as an arrow whizzed past her ear, but then we heard a different yelp. As we looked behind us, I figured out the arrow was aimed at a hellhound that was sneaking up for another attack.

We were stunned by the way the girls had such perfect aim and seemed to come from nowhere. None of us talked. None of us moved. We just stood there in a heavy silence until I heard a rustling sound next to me. Ethan had woken up and managed to crawl over and bow.

"Thank you, Lady Artemis." He croaked. At first I didn't think much except for the fact that my friend wasn't dead. Then something else dawned on me.

I looked at the girl in the lead, then at Ethan, then back at the girl. Levi seemed to be thinking the same thing I was. "W-wait," He said with a nervous laugh. "You're Artemis? Like, Artemis, goddess of the Hunt?"

The girl who had shot the arrow past Harley stepped forward. She had a proud light in her eyes and her hair had a silver circlet braded into it. "Ye shall not speak unless spoken to, boy. Lady Artemis answers neither to man nor boy—"

The girl in front—Artemis—held up her hand to hush her. The girl did not look happy about it, but she took a step back. The goddess didn't say anything, but she studied us intently. We decided it was safest to bow, so we knelt on the soft grass. I could feel her eyes on me, looking into my soul. It freaked me out at first; it was the same feeling I got whenever I was at the edge of Tartarus.

But this was different. It was like she was trying to figure me out so she could help me, not to manipulate me to do her will. After a few minutes she finally spoke in a tone that was a strange mix between entertainment and disdain. "Rise, demigods."

We got to our feet and waited for her to speak again. She fixed her eyes on Levi, who looked really uncomfortable with that. "Yes, boy, I am Artemis, goddess of the Hunt and the moon." The goddess turned to the other girl. "Zoë, you and the others set up camp. I'm sure we will have some things to discuss."

"As you wish, my lady." The one named Zoë said, then she and the other girls bowed and drifted off.

Artemis turned her gaze back to me. "I'm sure we will have a lot to talk about, Shiloh Lawson, but for now, let us get you rested.

* * *

><p>Camp took about five minutes to set up, each tent popping up from a tiny stick of what looked like gum. Camp fires roared and lit up the darkness, making the trees look even more menacing. I thought I could still hear howls and the sounds of monsters in the far off distance, but the silvery wolves protecting the camp finally helped my nerves calm down, and it seemed that my friends' did too.<p>

The other hunters seemed nice enough, well, at least to us girls.

"So, how does this whole magical hunter immortal thingy work anyway?" Levi asked one of the girls.

The hunter sniffed. "Like _boys_ would understand!"

"Gosh! Sorry, I didn't realize this is such a touchy subject!"

Another glare at the boy "vermin." Harley gave her a raised eyebrow as if she was prodding her on. The hunter sighed and put a hand on Harley's shoulder. "Artemis will explain tomorrow." She gave a reassuring nod.

"I know." She smiled at the girl than gave me a knowing look. I figured she knew something that I didn't.

We stared at the camp fire in silence as a strange looking piece of meat roasted over it. "Um… does that have… feathers?" I pointed to the meat.

The hunter looked at me and chuckled. "It would be best not to ask. By the way, the name's Isabella Samson, but you can just call me Bell." She introduced herself.

I coughed. "Samson, you say?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Daughter of Aphrodite?"

She looked at me suspiciously, but nodded her head. "Yes. Why, do you find it strange that I would exchange love, my mother's domain, for eternal maidenhood?"

"Well, yeah, I find that kind of weird. But that's not what I was thinking. Do you by chance have a sister? Vanessa?"

Isabella's face darkened for a second, then she tried to steer our conversation in a different direction. "Hmm… it was a tough thing. You know, joining the Hunt. My mother said that renouncing love was like renouncing her. She disowns me." Her voice got tight. "But no matter, it looks like dinner is ready."

The meat tasted like a strange mix between chicken and beef. It wasn't bad, but I was too scared to ask what it was. Ethan apparently wasn't. "So… what is this stuff? It's actually pretty good."

Before they answered his question, the other hunters looked at each other. One smirked and nodded at Isabella. "Harpy." Our new friend stated bluntly.

Levi coughed. "'Scuse me?"

Bell turned to Levi. "That's what I said, _boy_, it's harpy meat. Are you deaf?"

His response to that was spitting out the bite he had in his mouth and wiping his tongue. "Ew! That's disgusting, man! How could you eat that stuff? And why do you keep calling me _boy_, as if that's some kind of curse?"

A girl in the back stood up. The one named Zoë, I think. "First of all, _boy_, we do not answer _thy_ questions, nor shall you call us _man_. And it _is_ a curse to be of thy gender." She spat on the ground. "And harpy meat is fine; I do not understand what you have against it."

Levi just looked at Ethan and shook his head. "What is _her_ problem?"

Ethan shot him a warning look. "Don't test them, Levi."

"What? You've got to be kidding me! They're just a bunch of girls!"

"They may be girls, but they have magical bows and some serious skills. He's serious, do _not_ test them." Harley looked at her brother.

Before Levi could argue, Zoë sniffed and put her chin up. "I suggest that thou listen to thy friend's and sister's well spoken counsel. Ye have no chance to our ranks."

Levi listened and stopped talking. This seemed to please Zoë and she sat back down. "Males never learn."

After all the pressure of being on the run and being tired out of his mind, Ethan snapped. "You know what, lady?" He walked over to Zoë and got real close to her. "I don't care if you are or are not Artemis's first lieutenant. I don't care how old you are or what you've got against boys. But I'm sick of it! Get over yourself, why don't you?"

Zoë looked too stunned to respond. She finally recollected her thoughts and stood up menacingly. The silvery glow around her seemed to radiate stronger. Then the scariest part came. She drew her bow out of nowhere like Levi would and notched an arrow straight at Ethan. He stood there and stared her in the eye, unwavering, daring her to shoot. After a few tense moments, she lowered her bow and sighed. "Ye have nerve, boy. Now sit back down if you would rather not have an arrow in thy face."

Instead of doing what she said, he huffed and stormed off to the tent he thought was his. A scream came from inside and he came out red faced. "Wrong tent." Was all he said as he stomped off to the right one.

Levi must've felt weird being the only guy around the fire, so he left to follow Ethan almost right away. But I noticed that as he walked, his body swayed like his legs were too weak to carry his own weight. This bothered me a little.

After about five minutes of silence, Harley and I decided to turn in for the night. Besides, my appetite didn't quite stick around when I found out about the harpy meat. Isabella showed us to our tent, and when we walked inside, my breathe was taken away.

The walls were silvery silk, but were as hard as bricks. The room was furnished with comfortable looking throw pillows and cots for us to sleep in. There was even a jug filled with cold water completed with little paper cone cups. Isabella wished us a good night and left.

Once she was gone, Harley plopped down on a cot and sighed wearily. She looked older and tired, like life wasn't worth it.

"What's wrong?" I asked softly as I sat down next to her.

"I don't know, Shiloh, I just don't know any more."

I gave her a puzzled look and she chuckled lightly. "We just need to recollect ourselves. We had a near-death experience and we all need some sleep." She had a faraway look in her eyes, probably remembering some of her own bad experiences.

"Hmm… Ethan didn't say much tonight. Something's bothering him. He seemed to be somewhere else in his mind." I pondered out loud.

Harley considered this, then sighed. "We all are, Shi, we all are."

* * *

><p>Sleep was okay, and the cots were impossibly fluffy. No dreams tormented us, well, at least me, I don't know about Harley. But anyway, we were woken up by Zoë telling—excuse me, I mean <em>demanding<em>—us to get up.

"Get dressed and presentable as fast as possible, then come to the tent at the end. Lady Artemis does not permit tardiness."

We were wondering what she meant, but we didn't try to argue. We made our selves "presentable" as Zoë had said, and headed down to the tent on the end.

When Harley and I walked inside of the biggest tent, it was even more amazing then ours. Animal pelts and heads hung on the walls; all sorts of skins lied on the ground, making a sort of fuzzy rug. Silver pillows were scattered across the floor, and in the middle sat Artemis. We bowed and she gestured for us to sit down. Before she said anything though, she looked us up and down, seeming to read our thoughts. This was the first time we actually got a good look at the goddess.

She was beautiful in a strange, un-human way. Her auburn hair was braided over her shoulder, and her big silvery yellow eyes were like moons. She looked about sixteen or so, but I couldn't quite tell; there was an ageless look about her. A spotless white dress hung about her, with some small skins tucked into her belt. When she finally started talking, her words came out softly, like the wind whistling through an autumn night.

"Shiloh, Harley. I see in both of you the ability to achieve greatness, but your fates… you must choose your own." Her voice became solemn, still, like she was speaking at a funeral.

We were both confused, and Harley spoke first. "But what is our fate? I mean, why did you bring us together? Like, Shiloh and I, with you?"

The goddess nodded her head, like it was a fair question. "Harley, you know why you are here. Now it's your time to decide. Remember what I told you before."

"What does she mean? What do you have to decide? How do you know each other?" I asked Harley. I had no idea what she was talking about or how they had met before.

Harley looked at me sadly. "Shiloh, I met the goddess before, years ago."

"B-but… Levi didn't know who she was!" I waved my hand at Artemis.

"Levi wasn't with me at the time… it was a dark time in our lives, and my brother and I… we weren't always together…"

"Yes," The goddess agreed. "I came to try to help her, but I soon released that it wasn't her time yet."

Things started piecing together in my mind. "Wait a second, you mean… you're offering us t-to be your… eternal handmaidens? To be Hunters of… of Artemis?"

She nodded. This was overwhelming. An Olympian wanted me—a worthless, unclaimed camper—to be by her side forever? This was the chance of a lifetime… I would gain much, but also give up much. I wasn't sure what to say, but Harley apparently did. She kneeled on one knee and put her head down. I knew Harley would politely reject the offer. She wouldn't leave her brother and me, or even Ethan. She wouldn't! I knew I couldn't, but before I could cross my fingers she started talking.

"My Lady, to your gracious offer… my answer—"

Her answer was cut off by Zoë yelping and yelling something very rude in ancient Greek. Artemis raised an eyebrow and we all turned around.

There in the doorway was Ethan, his face ashen with fear and panting out of breathe. He ignored Zoë and turned to us. Worry clouded his eyes, and he had to find his voice before he could say anything.

"Harley! You have to come outside now! It's Levi—" His voice cracked.

Harley shot up immediately. "What is it?"

Ethan shook his head woefully and looked at her with sadness. "H-he's dying."

**A/N: Ooh, _another_ cliffie! What's gonna happen! Review and let me know what you think!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Yay, it didn't take me two weeks to update like I thought it would. But that's because I cut some of this chapter out and I'm going to put it into the next chapter, and some of the stuff in the next chapter is going to take some thought. Dang...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to PJO.**

**Chapter Eleven- Goodbyes**

We rushed out of the tent with Ethan, and when we got to Levi, his condition was worse than I had imagined. His face was clammy and sickly pale, and his hairline was beaded with sweat. His shirt had been taken off, and across his chest and abdomen were four long gashes, the skin around each scratch was a sickening shade of green.

Harley rushed to his side. "What happened?"

His breathing was very shallow, and his body shuddered each time he did. His response took a long time to come out. "The giant's… claws… poisoned…"

Harley started to cry. "Why didn't you tell us?" Levi's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he didn't respond. "No!" She cried even harder.

Ethan put a hand on her shoulder. "He felt that he had gotten on everyone's nerves enough and he didn't want to bother anyone." His explanation didn't help with her sobbing.

I wasn't sure what to do, and I couldn't just let our friend die. "The packs, we need ambrosia!"

"We left the packs at the demon diner, remember?" Ethan said miserably.

I decided maybe a goddess could help. "Artemis! Artemis! Please, come and help!" I called.

She was there instantly, and glanced at Levi. "What is it that you wish?"

I couldn't believe it. She didn't notice anything wrong with our friend? "Please, I'm begging, please heal him. We can't let him die…" My voice cracked. He was like a brother to me.

Artemis shook her head, and her face was expressionless. "No, I do not heal boys."

"Y-you… why? What is your problem? You expect me to join your hunt, yet you don't respect my wishes?" Right now, I didn't care if I was being curt or not with a goddess who could blast me off the earth instantly. I just wanted my friend back. "Don't you understand what Levi means to me? He's my friend! He's like family!"

"You do not speak to the goddess that way." Zoë stepped forward menacingly.

"No, Zoë, hold back." She put her hand up to stop her lieutenant, then nodded at me approvingly. "Good, Shiloh, you have proven to me where your loyalties stand. Your friends mean most in your life."

"That doesn't have to do with anything!" I yelled. "I want my friend back _now_!"

"Hmph. As I said before, I cannot heal him, but… a last resort may be able to."

"A last resort?" I asked confused. Suddenly, a bright light shone in front of us. Everyone turned away, and when the light died, a young man stood in front of us.

"So, little sis needs my help? Awesome!" He gave us all a blinding smile, then looked back at the goddess. "Wait, why don't you look like a little kid anymore? We almost look the same age now! That's no fun; I don't feel as superior." The guy pouted.

Artemis sighed. "Because I change forms at will, when I feel like it. And honestly, Apollo, if it makes you uncomfortable, good. But I did not call you here to talk about my appearance." She waved her hand at Levi.

"Oh hey! I didn't notice him over there." He walked to our friend and examined him, then got up questioningly. "Why do you guys want to heal him bad enough to call me down here? He's just a mortal."

"He's my brother!" Harley wailed.

"And our friend." Ethan went on. "He's practically part of our family, Harley, Shiloh, and I. We can't just leave him to die!"

"Hmm… fair enough, I guess. But it's a high price to pay, I'm afraid. A task from a god does come with a price, after all." The god replied.

I found my voice after I finally got over the fact that we were in the presence of two Olympians, and they made nothing of our dying friend. "W-wait, what do you mean, 'a high price'?"

For a split second, Apollo's brilliant smile wavered, then he regained his composer. "That's ancient poison… there's sacred laws on it." We just looked at him. "Do I have to explain everything?"

"Yes." Ethan and I said in unison.

"Okay, okay! Hold your horses! It's… a life for a life, basically."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Mortals!" He exclaimed. "They don't know anything these days! A life for a life—your friend here is going to die unless someone else takes his place."

We pondered this quietly, and Ethan stepped out. "I will."

Before I could argue, someone else spoke up. "No." Isabella had come out to see what all the commotion was. "You know it's not your place to do this, Ethan." She said quietly.

He shook his head. "Please, you know it's not your time yet." Ethan choked on his words and stepped towards her. How did he know her? Did they know each other before? Isabella took a step back from him. "Please," He begged. "It may not be my place, but it's not yours, either."

"It is, and you know that. Stop fighting Fate, Ethan, it won't end well." She spoke eerily calm. There was no fear on her face.

Ethan looked down pained. "Why?"

The hunter walked closer to him and lifted up his head, but didn't touch him anymore than that. "I told you before I joined the Hunt that that wouldn't be our last goodbye. But I'm pretty sure that… that now it is." Ethan gave no reply, so she walked over to me.

"Shiloh, I know we never got to know each other, but… tell my sister, Vanessa, that I'm sorry… give her my goodbyes, and a hug for me, will you?"

"I-I will."

"Good." She smiled at me, then knelt on the ground where Harley was. "Every time you look at your brother, remember me."

Harley nodded with tears in her eyes and gave Isabella a hug. "Y-you don't have to do this." She whispered, but the hunter only shook her head.

"This is my destiny. It's clear to me now. Ethan… Ethan will explain everything to you later."

She then walked over and knelt in front of Artemis, who nodded her head approvingly. "Yes, my hunter, you realize what you are meant to do, and you bow your will to it. Isabella Samson, you have my blessing."

She gave the goddess a look, and Artemis nodded, a little unsure. The girl got up and ran to Ethan, stared at him for a second, then gave him a hug. "You… you were a good friend, Ethan, but… you know it wasn't our destiny, to be together." She whispered. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too." He pulled away and turned from her coldly.

"Ethan, please—"

"Um, sorry to break up your goodbyes," Apollo interrupted. "But he's going into critical condition."

We all looked at Levi, who was no longer breathing at all. Isabella quickly hugged some of the other hunters, who obviously thought her decision distasteful. The hunter finally walked over to Apollo. "I'm ready."

"Good, because if you weren't, well, you know." None of us found that funny, so he just pointed at a spot next to Levi. "Lay down."

She did so, and gave Ethan one last look. She mouthed 'goodbye' as a single tear traced down her face. She rested her head in the wet grass, and her honey-brown hair so much like Vanessa's spread out in the grass. Apollo knelt next to them and put a hand over Levi's face and the other over Isabella's and chanted something quietly. A silvery mist came from her mouth a spread out to cover Levi. We all expected her to cry out in pain or start to die horribly or something, but instead her body merely turned transparent, and a new wind picked it up as she dissolved.

I looked over at Ethan. His jaw was set and he was stiff with grief. I couldn't help but wonder what their story was. My thoughts were interrupted by Harley gasping as her brother's cuts healed themselves, only leaving behind faint scars. Color returned to his face and she hugged him tight.

"Ow…" He murmured, but didn't look like he was in too much pain.

"You're alive!"

"I'm not going to be if you keep _crushing_ me."

"Oh," She laughed a little, then let go. "Sorry."

Levi sat up slowly, then looked at the scars. "Wow, what happened?"

No one responded, which made him look a little nervous.

"What the important thing is now, is that you two make your decision." Artemis looked at Harley and me. Wow, this lady had a one-way mindset.

Before we could answer, Apollo looked around. "Well, I think my work here is done. God of the sun, signing off." Before he disappeared, he looked at me knowingly. "Oh, and Shiloh? You know where your place is in this journey of life," He slowly waved his hand in front of him dramatically. "Make the right decision." He winked at me as if I should know what he meant, and disappeared into a warm glow.

Once he was gone, Artemis sighed. "Tsk, don't listen to him. All the soaps he's watching are getting to his head."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up." I said. "You want us to decide? Right now?"

"Why yes, you know, I am a busy goddess."

"But Levi just got healed!"

"Making this an even better time to decide."

I stomped my foot in frustration. "Don't you see? Girls are the level headed ones!" A bunch of the hunters murmured in agreement, but I ignored them. "We were _there_ and look what happened to him. What would've happened if those two were on their own?"

"Hey!" Levi spoke up. "We're perfectly capable! Right, Ethan?"

A bunch of hunters shushed him and I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Anyway, they need us. I mean, Harley was almost torn from her brother. There's no way she's going to join now!" I looked over at my friend, but she just looked at the ground. "Right?"

"I'm sorry Shiloh, but… I think this is what I'm supposed to do."

"Wait, you mean, like, join the Hunt?" Levi asked with disbelief. Harley nodded her head and walked away from her brother and towards the goddess. "Please, Harley, please don't!"

She ignored her brother's pleas. I wanted to argue that she couldn't leave us, but my voice choked up. "My lady," She started. "I… I accept your offer."

Artemis smiled. "You must take the pledge then. To renounce romantic love and the company of men."

"I-I will." The words came hesitantly, but they still came.

"Repeat after me. I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis."

"I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis."

"I turn my back on the company of men,"

"I turn my back on the company of men," Again, she had a hard time getting the words out, probably thinking of her brother.

"Accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt."

I watched as she repeated the last phrase, turning her back on us, her friends—her family—to find a new one in Artemis and her hunters. Nothing changed about her when she turned back around at us. The same old Harley Roday.

"We should get back on the move." Zoë offered, and I glared at her.

Harley walked over to me. "I guess this is goodbye."

"How could you?" Was all I had to say.

"Shiloh, please, _please_ try to understand. You're my friend, and friends respect each other's decisions. This is mine, and I know that it's for me."

"But not for me."

"Maybe…" Harley said regrettably.

I knew I couldn't join. I had obligations to my friends. Isabella gave me the duty to return to her sister, and I wouldn't break that promise. I couldn't leave Ethan and Levi to fend for themselves, they needed a girl with them; someone with common sense. But to tell the truth, out of all the reasons I came up with to not join, one name kept popping up: _Lee_. I pushed that thought out of my head, and managed to give Harley a goodbye hug. Then she walked over to Ethan, and then finally to Levi, who wouldn't even look at her. Gods, he was colder than I was.

The hunters broke camp almost instantly, but before they left, Artemis walked over to me. I turned away from her and wouldn't meet the goddess's eyes. "Shiloh, you must realize something. There is no such thing as chance," She walked around so she was right in front of me. The goddess reached out her hand and touched the silver streak in my hair, and to my surprise, it returned to its natural color: black. "Everything happens for a reason. Remember this, and it will serve you well." She removed her hand, and silver streaked back through my bangs. "Oh, and I'm sure you'll be happy to get these back." She handed me the backpacks we had left behind, along with Ethan's sword and Levi's bow.

"Oh, thanks," I really wasn't surprised that she had them.

The goddess nodded and didn't say a single word after that, and neither did Harley. They left as silently as they had come, and I had a lot to think about, but first, I wanted answers.

"So, Ethan, I'm guessing you have quite a bit of explaining to do." I turned on him. Without a word, he started walking back to the highway. "I'm talking to you here!" I ran up to him, expecting Levi to follow.

Levi was still staring in the direction the hunters had left, his shoulders slumped. I couldn't help but feel bad for him, so I trudged over to where he was standing. "C'mon, Levi, we're almost there." I said softly.

"She left me…"

At that moment, I realized what kept him going. I had never seen it before, but it was his sister.

"She's right, Levi, we only have about a two hour walk left." Ethan prodded.

Our friend took one last gaze into forest and followed us back to the road.

"I guess I have a lot to tell you." Ethan finally said as we walked in the hot sun. "Well, we all have our own stories we keep from each other," He gave me a meaningful look and I turned my head away. My time would come eventually. "And, um, this is mine."

**Well, what do you think happened between Ethan and Isabella? I love hearing what you guys predict, it entertains me. So, please do review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey there! So, sorry for missing last week's chapter, but I had a lot of things to do, we were getting ready to leave town, so yeah. Anyway, I don't have much to say, except I'm unsure of how people are going to respond to this new character. So please, as you read, let me know what you think of her, like if her character is cheasy or something. Thanks :)**

**Disclaimer: No, I own nothing to do with PJO.**

**Chapter Twelve- Replacements**

"We had met each other at camp when we were around seven years old or so," Ethan went on after explaining that he and Isabella had both been stuck in the Hermes cabin together for about a year, until Aphrodite claimed her. "We were really, really close. We had so many adventures together. Then," His voice took on a hint of bitterness. "The Hunters had to show up at camp. In fact, it was right before you came, Shiloh."

A pang went through me. Did Ethan befriend me just so he could replace his friendship Isabella? Sneaking suspicion crept into my throat, but I pushed it back.

"They just _had_ to take her. Why couldn't they have, like, taken Vanessa?"

"It's okay man, I know how you feel." Levi said, then spat on the ground.

"I mean, it was her destiny. It's not like I should argue with that, but… it's just so _hard_. Ugh! I _hate_ prophecies!"

Levi and I looked at him in shock. "_What_ prophecy?" I asked.

"Herm… did I say prophecy? I meant, um… anyway… nice weather today, huh?"

"Fine, if you don't want to talk about your 'mystical, oh-so-secret prophecy,' then, well, whatever." I waved it off, but secretly clung to everything he had said. I couldn't help but feel like maybe, just _maybe_, I was nothing more than a replacement.

* * *

><p>We finally made it to New York City. What a place! It was nothing like my home back in St. Louis. It was dirty and crowded, and there was like a million people on every street, but Levi seemed to know how to navigate the city pretty well. But the whole city gave me the heebie-jeebies. Haha, Hebe… um, yeah, never mind.<p>

"Do you know where we're going?" I asked him softly.

"Yeah, I guess so." Levi took a little card out of his pocket.

"What's that?"

"It's the card that Aun—I mean, our waitress gave me. It has an address on it; I'm guessing my grandparents'."

"Oh, okay."

Earlier, after explaining to us what had happened (though it wasn't a very thorough explanation), Ethan had been pretty silent. In fact, all of us were. We all had a lot on our minds, and didn't really wish to share.

As we walked past an alleyway full of trash, Levi stopped and stared into it. Ethan and I looked too, but I didn't see anything.

"What is it?" Ethan asked.

Levi just pointed. I strained my eyes to see, and a vague outline of a curled up person lied against the back wall. Without any warning, Levi ran towards it. We yelled at him to stop, but he kept going, then got onto his knees next to the person. I mean, didn't the kid grow up here? Shouldn't he know better than to talk to shady figures hunching in alleyways? I looked at Ethan, and he nodded.

We walked to Levi, to see him talking to a girl. She looked about our age, with stringy brown hair and her eyes hollow with despair. Her thin lips were cracked, and ragged clothes hung on her loosely. Grime smeared across her face, and she wouldn't respond to what Levi saying.

Ethan yanked up our friend and hissed "What do you think you're doing?"

"I-I…" He faltered, than took a breath. "I felt like I should talk to her. She needs help."

"You can't go around talking to hobos! What if she's just acting innocent and then mugs you?"

"She couldn't do that, look at her!"

"You never know."

Levi sighed. "She needs help. It's not fair that she should be living like this."

"Levi," I stepped in, "Life isn't fair. It's not fair that our parents won't claim us. It's not fair that Artemis took your sister. It's not fair that we have to run away from the only safe place we know of because it's not safe anymore. It's not fair that—"

"Okay! I get it! But… it's a gut feeling. I think we should help her."

"She's a mortal, Levi. Or what if she's a monster, just looking vulnerable?"

Levi crossed his arms and stood his ground.

"Just because you lost Harley, doesn't mean you _have_ to replace her." Ethan said. Yeah, and he's the one to talk. No, Shiloh! Don't think like that!

I sighed. "Okay, we'll try to help her. But if she kills us, I blame you."

Levi grinned, and we all squatted to her eye level. "Hi, my name's Levi, and this is Shiloh and Ethan. We want to help you."

She just looked at us.

"Do you need something to eat?" Levi dug around in his pack and pulled out a protein bar, then offered it to her.

The girl looked at it warily. Then she grabbed it and ate it so fast, I could barely even blink before it was gone. Levi pulled out some other things looking for another bar, but instead the baggie of ambrosia came out. She looked at it hungrily.

"Oh no, I don't think you'll want to eat that," Levi started but she grabbed the bag anyway. She popped a piece in her mouth, and a thin smile spread across her pale face. We watched in horror, expecting her to burst into flames or something, but instead we got a big shocker. Color came back to her face and some of her cuts faded. Levi grabbed the bag away instantly, and she looked disappointed.

"Um, too much of that stuff will burn you up." He said shakily. "Though you should already be dead…"

She looked confused.

"So, uh, what's your name?" I asked.

She just looked at me.

"Where's your parents?"

The same blank stare.

"Can you talk?"

No response.

"Maybe she's dumb and never learned how to." Ethan muttered.

I shot him a sharp look and turned back to the girl. "Sorry, he's just in a bad mood."

I looked at Levi pleadingly, I mean, he's the one who brought us into this. "So… do you have a name?" He prodded.

The girl nodded her head. Fine, ignore me.

"What is it?"

A blank stare.

"How old are you?"

She held up one finger, then two more on the other hand.

"You're twelve?"

The girl nodded her head.

"Good," He said, then gave me and Ethan a triumphant smile.

"Um, anyway, do you know where your parents are?" Ethan asked awkwardly.

She gave him a sour look, then shook her head no.

"Did you ever live with both of them at the same time?" I asked.

She gave me a shocked look then vigorously shook her head again.

I looked at my friends and we exchanged knowing glances. We probably just found ourselves a stray demigod, or an Olympian in disguise that was testing us—probably a demigod, though. Just our luck.

Levi turned to her. "This is going to sound weird, but have you ever seen… monsters?"

Fear shown in her eyes. That was enough of an answer.

"We know somewhere safe." Levi continued. "For people like you, like us. Do you want to come?"

The girl just looked at him for what seemed like forever. Then she finally nodded her head, a little more trusting.

"Good," He smiled at her and we all got up. He turned to us and whispered "I told you this was a good idea."

"Whatever." I looked back at the girl. "So, could you tell us your name?"

She quickly made some signs with her hands. I was trying to remember what those meant.

"Rosa?"

She shook her head _no_, then signed again.

"Rosie?"

She nodded her head and smiled.

"Okay, Rosie," Ethan sighed. "Why won't you talk? Are you, like, mute or something?"

She gave him a knowing look.

"Seriously? You are?"

She nodded.

"Hmm, well that answers some questions." He muttered.

"So, Rosie, we're travelling to my grandparents' house and—"

Rosie stopped dead in her tracks and shook her head vigorously, then started signing something really fast.

"What is she saying, er, so to speak?" Ethan asked.

I concentrated. "Um, something like she wants us to take her to the safe place. _Now_."

"Oh, well, the safe place isn't exactly safe yet—" Levi started.

More fast signing.

"She saying that you lied to her." I translated.

"No, no! It _will_ be, just not yet! Please understand." He pleaded.

We finally got the mute to settle down and she agreed to go with us.

"So, where did you learn sign language?" Ethan asked me quietly.

"Oh, well, the apartment manager back at my dad's place is deaf, and because my dad is 'so on top of things,' he learned to sign and taught me some so we could talk to the man without trouble. I'm a bit rusty, though my dad is still probably good at it." I didn't mean to sound bitter when I talk about my dad, it just came naturally. I loved him, but he's just so hard to… to find quality time with.

"Well, if your dad is 'so on top of things' like you say, why does he live in an apartment?" Levi asked.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Because he's too practical and doesn't think we need a house if it's just gonna be us… well, I mean, it's only him now. And don't be fooled by the word _apartment_, it's a _nice_ one."

"Okay, whatever."

We walked for about another half hour, and finally, _finally_ got to a large brownstone.

"This should be it." Levi let out a breath. He just stood there, looking at the building with an expression that was a mix between relief and horror.

"Levi," I started, "What's in the past is in the past, don't worry."

"Yeah, but… they hated Harley and I. They really did. Th-they blamed our dad's death on us and said everything bad that happened to him since we were born was our fault…"

Not the stereotypical loving grandparents, eh? "I'm sorry, Levi, but we do need to take our chances. Maybe they've forgiven you, or… they're old, right? So maybe they've forgotten."

"Yeah, right." Ethan mumbled under his breath. I shot him a sharp look and continued.

"Really, it'll be alright. Things change, people change. And besides, it's here, the streets, or back at camp, and you know we can't do that. So, what do say?"

Ethan and Rosie both nodded their heads and Levi sighed deeply. "I guess so… let's do this."

**A/N: So, let me know what you think of Rosie! I'm really not sure of her yet, but let me know what you think.**


	13. Chapter 13

**So, this is the last chapter of the summer, at least for me. I start my Sophomore year on Monday, so my regular routine of updating every weekend might change soon. But I am homeschooled, so I have a little more free time than the average high schooler, so the updates shouldn't be that far apart. So anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Ahem, yes, I do own PJO and all of its glory. NO! DON'T KILL ME! AAAAAAAH! The police are coming after me! I was just joking! I don't own it!**

**Chapter Thirteen- Painful Memories**

"And, well, it was just so amazing! Winning the gold medal at _six_ _years_ _old_! Another cookie?" Mrs. Roday pushed a plate of cookies at us.

"Uh, no thank you, ma'am." I said politely. This couldn't possibly be the grandmother Levi was talking about! She was so nice and… grandmotherly! I couldn't believe that she had been hateful toward the twins. It was just so hard to imagine.

Levi shot me a weary glance. I nodded reassuringly at him.

He had been shaking so bad as we approached the door, I was afraid he would start seizing, but so far, everything had been going smoothly. And the look on his grandmother's face when she opened the door to a bunch of filthy children—priceless. Then she spotted Levi, and she just started… babbling, about _everything_; her son (she implied that he died a hero, though she didn't give specifics), Harley and Levi as young children, and the new gumbo recipe she was making for dinner. And she hadn't stopped talking since she herded us into her living room.

"Ah, good memories…" The graying woman sighed happily. Then she looked at us weirdly. "Wh-where's your sister, dear?"

"She's, uh… she's gone now." Levi said regrettably.

Mrs. Roday gasped. "No! What happened?"

Ethan seemed to catch onto what the old lady was thinking, though Levi didn't. "It's a sad story ma'am. You see, on our way here, we were attacked."

"By what?"

Ethan thought for a second. "…A bear."

"Just one?"

"Oh no," I said in my most 'believe our fake story' tone. "It was a giant bear. And there were ten others with it!"

Levi finally figured out that his grandmother thought Harley had died. "Yeah, and… we escaped, just narrowly. But poor Harley…"

I shot him a look. He wasn't acting sad enough to make it believable.

"Oh, you poor dears," She said sadly. "Is there anything I can do?"

"N-no, I… I just don't want to talk about it." Levi put his head in his hands and sniffled. That's better.

"Well, I'm truly at a loss for words… you seem to be, too. Do you talk, or are you stupid?" She asked bluntly and pointed to Rosie. Okay, now I was starting to see the side Levi was talking about.

Rosie looked thoroughly offended, so I stepped in with more back stories. "Oh no, you see, she, uh, lived in China with her parents, cause they were, um, world travelers, you see? And she had a teacher that took care of her as if she was his own daughter after her parents died. And, well…" I was trying to figure out where I was going with this, but Ethan saved me.

"Well, her teacher sent her here to get a better education, because he only spoke Chinese, and she only spoke a little bit of Chinese." Rosie nodded her head vigorously, agreeing with him.

"I'm still not understanding…" Mrs. Roday said puzzled.

"Oh, well, when she got here, she found out that he had died while she was travelling and so she, uh, took a vow of silence."

Rosie didn't seem to be too happy with the story we made for her, but she nodded her head sadly and shed a fake tear, which made streak marks down her dirty face.

"Yes, well, um… do you need a place to stay for the night? Is that why you're here?" She waved off the story after giving us a skeptical look.

Levi looked relieved that he didn't have to ask. "Yes, thank you."

His grandma smiled at us in a weird old person way that made me shiver. "Then why don't you all get cleaned up for dinner? I'll show you to the two spare rooms you may stay in."

We walked up the stairs and looked around. It felt a little like my dad's apartment, except this was two stories… anyway, Rosie and I were in a bedroom and Ethan and Levi were in the room across. I figured this would give me some time to get to know her, considering she was our new traveling partner, no thanks to Levi. Please catch the sarcasm there, folks.

As soon as Mrs. Roday went back downstairs, Rosie left me and hit the shower. Poor girl, she probably hadn't had one in forever. I wondered what her past really was, why she didn't talk. Was it a disease, or her choice? I figured I would find out soon enough so I just lied down on the bed and studied the ceiling.

After about five minutes, there was a knock at my door and Ethan walked in. "Fine, just barge into my room, why don't you?"

"I knocked." Ethan said dryly. "And besides, since when have you had your own room to control who comes in or out? And it's not even just _your_ room! Rosie's in here too. And it's not like we're staying here forever, and—"

"Okay, whatever! I was just kidding!" I sat up and looked at his grim expression. "What is it?"

He came over and sat next to me and spoke quietly. "I don't like this place. I'm having a hard time trusting… you-know-who."

I sighed through my nose. "Ethan, I'm pretty sure Rosie is harmless. Stop being so paranoi—"

"No! Not Rosie! Mrs. Creepy Grandma Lady. I mean, Levi is worried too, which bothers me even more."

"Oh," I felt my cheeks flush for thinking he was still bothered by Rosie. "So, you've been getting creeper vibes, too?"

"Definitely. I mean, she's just a mortal, plus she's old, and Levi clearly recognizes that it's his grandmother, but just… keep a sharp eye out."

"Okay,"

"Good," He walked back to the door. "Oh, and Shiloh?"

"Yeah?"

"Keep an eye on our little China girl too, will ya?"

"Yes Sir, whatever you say, Sir." I smiled.

Ethan chuckled and walked out of the room. Once he was gone, I sighed. "What am I supposed to do now?" I said out loud.

"Why don't you use some common sense? We all know you're a smart girl, Shiloh." A voice said slowly.

I whirled around to see our host in the doorway. A creepy smile wrinkled her aging face. "Excuse me?"

"Play dumb all you want, Lawson, but you can't hide!" As she said that, her voice changed from a sweet old lady's to that all too familiar voice that sent shivers down my back: Kronos.

I jumped back and reached for my sword, but it wasn't at my side. The old lady took a step into the room. "You can't run,"

"Stay back!" I warned her, and before I could react, she reached out her hand at me, palm open. Black spirals shot around the room and I was engulfed in darkness. "Leave me alone!" I shrieked. "Why can't you just leave me alone? I just want you to… to leave me alone!"

"_Now why would I do that, when you are such a perfect pawn?"_ The titan lord's voice said.

I was still in the dark, not only physical blackness where I couldn't see anything, but mental darkness, also. I didn't know why he wanted me, or what he wanted me for.

"_Hmm, why do I want you? Well, for your parentage, of course. A child of your pathetic parent could prove most useful."_

"_M-my mother? Who is she_?"

He made _tsk-tsk_ sounds. _"Now Shiloh, you know I can't tell you! Things don't quite work that way. But maybe if you join me, we can make a deal. You pledge your allegiance to me, and I will—"_

"_I know_!" I snarled back. "_I know, you've told me already! But why should I join you? Because I'm unclaimed? Because the gods don't care about my worthless soul? Well, my mother knows who I am, and she must not be claiming me for a reason. And, come on! I mean, the Olympians are busy! They have their own agendas and children, why would they really care about me? If I thought they should, then that would make me the most self centered, selfish jerk in the whole world. So, mister big bad titan, give me one reasonable reason why I should join you._" I said in the most bored voice I could muster, but he knew I was just trying to play him.

"_Hmph. I'll give you a reason, you stupid little unyielding maggot!_ _They took your friends_."

The words hit me like daggers of ice, piercing my heart, sinking deep into everything I cared about.

The voice was obviously pleased. _"Yes, your friends. The only people who ever made you feel secure. They already took three, how many more will you let them snatch away?"_

A tear traced down my face as memories forced their ways into my mind. I couldn't talk, only double over and fall to my knees as whispers of _"It's your fault. Why did you leave us? All your fault…"_ pierced my mind. I was in pain, scull jarring pain, not just physical, but… mental. All the guilt I had been keeping back for years—the pain that I got from blaming myself for everything—flooded back to me.

"_You blame yourself."_ The voice seemed so far away, yet still very clear. _"It wasn't your fault; it was theirs, the Olympians. As I said before, they took your friends, it was them. Turn from them, bend your will to mine, I can see your heart turning. Slowly, very slowly, but still turning."_

"_Just… just give me some time. Some time to think things over_." I whispered after the pain subsided.

"_Good…"_ The voice murmured evilly and the lights came back to me.

I bolted upright in a cold sweat. My friends were circled around me on the floor looking worried. "Are you okay, dear?" Mrs. Roday asked from the door in her sweet old lady voice.

"Y-you," I stuttered. "You just stay back!"

"But—"

"Go away! Leave me alone!" I yelled.

"Shiloh! What's gotten into you?" Levi yelled back.

Ethan looked at her suspiciously, but turned his attention back to me. "What is it, Shiloh?"

"H-her, she… she…" I tried to explain.

"I honestly don't know what you are talking about. I was walking by to check on all of you, and there, right on the floor, you were shaking violently, all feverish and the such." The old lady said shakily.

"_Liar_!" I screamed at her. I was just so… so shaken up. I just couldn't take it any longer. "You… you showed me my lost friends, y-you—urg! I-I just have to get out of this house!" I pushed past Levi and stormed down the stairs, out onto the porch.

"Wha-what's gotten into me?" I had not only started having terrible visions again, but I had… had considered joining the titans. "Arg!" I punched the wall of the brownstone. Blood trickled down my fist, but I didn't feel the pain. I didn't feel anything. The numbness of my mind drowned everything else out. Only two things were in my line of thought:

1. Losing my friends.

2. Joining the titans.

**A/N: Let me know what you think about this new installment in Unclaimed Souls!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hola! Well, sorry for not updating last week. The first week of school is always hectic, and besides, updating last Saturday would be againts my well being! After all, it was National AkuRoku Day... *shudders* It would be irreverent to update my favorite story on such a terrible day! Anyway! Enjoy this chapter and please review! AND ALL HAIL THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN CHOCOBO!**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own PJO, nor do I own the Fox and the Hound, nor do I own Disney, and I most definately do not own the Golden Chocobo! ALL HAIL THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN CHOCOBO**

**Chapter Fourteen- Friends**

"Shiloh? Where are you?" I heard Ethan call my name. The front door opened, and he and Levi walked out.

"What happened back there?" Levi asked.

"I just… I don't know! I want to go home—back to camp. Everything will be better then." I sat down on the steps, wallowing in my pathetic despair.

"But Shiloh, camp is dangerous, and—" Levi tried to say, but I cut him off.

"You don't think I know that? I'm not _stupid_, Levi. Of all people, you should know that. I mean, we're actually _friends_. Do you not remember what the meaning of that word is?" I asked sharply.

"Sorry, Shiloh," Levi said quietly. "I didn't mean anything by that."

Ethan looked puzzled at my outburst. "These issues you're having… do they have anything to do with, you know… what happened with Harley? Her leaving us? Are you afraid that we're going to go away too?"

Oh, if only he knew what I was going through. I didn't respond as I bit back tears. I couldn't cry. I was supposed to be strong, for Levi, for Ethan, for everyone.

"Don't worry, Shiloh," Levi tried to comfort me. "As long as we're all friends here, we'll never be separated. I mean, I still feel connected to Harley, even though she's… Zeus knows where." His voice faltered for second, but with a questioning look from Ethan, he continued. "What I mean is, that as long as we're friends, we'll always be together in, you know, our hearts, even when we're far away from each other."

I know he was just trying to make me feel better, but I was in a state of absolute melancholy. _Melancholy_, I tell you, and I was almost _never_ like this. Until recently, of course. And honestly, I was in no mood to comply with his childish statement.

"Levi, that is one of the single most _stupid_ things I have ever, ever, _ever_ heard you say. This is no time for Disney morals, and this isn't the stupid _Fox and the Hound_. So just stop trying to make me feel better, because it's. Not. Working." The words came out harsher than I meant them to, and my friend looked hurt. "I'm sorry, Levi, you… you just don't understand what I'm going through."

"Actually," Ethan spoke up. "I think he does. We all do."

I glared at him. Of course they didn't know what I was going through… Or did they? I stood up and wouldn't look at the other two.

"No really, Shiloh, we do. You need to stop acting like you're the only one going through hard times, because we all are. We were born demigods, cursed to live a difficult life. And you know what? You're just making things even harder on yourself by blocking yourself off and not letting us help you. We _are_ your friends, and we _are_ here to help each other get through issues. So stop secluding yourself and let us help you." When I still wouldn't look at him, Ethan put his hand on my shoulder and forced me to turn around and look at him. Then he got right up in my face and spoke through gritted teeth. "So make things easier on yourself: be a big girl and just get on with your miserable life."

I knew he wanted the best for me, and he knew that was exactly what I needed to get through everything; getting in my face and telling me to get over it. I sighed. "I guess so. I just… want to get away from this place."

"I know you saw something up there, something terrible, and I know you thought it came from Levi's grandmother." Ethan started to explain.

"And, well, we talked with for her for a few minutes, and honestly, I don't think she really had anything to do with it." Levi finished.

I looked at them in disbelief. "Wh-what do you mean _you don't think she had anything to do with it_?" I almost shouted. "_You_ didn't see it! I did!"

"Just… just calm down for a sec." Ethan said slowly. "It could very possibly be the titan lord, messing with your mind, you know?"

The titan lord. I didn't think of that. Maybe he was just trying to get me off guard and mess with my trust of the current surroundings, making me even more susceptible to joining him. Which, by the way, I was still considering. Gosh, don't look at me that way! It's not like I'm proud to admit it!

"And besides, we really have no other place to go." Levi added quickly.

I sighed in my defeat. "Fine. We'll stay here—or at least try to—until Lee get's back to us. Which I'm sure he will. Soon. Very soon." But to me, it sounded like I was just reassuring myself.

"Good! And Grandma said we could stay here as long as we need to, as long as—" Levi hunched his back and tried to imitate his grandmother's elderly voice. "'As long as that strange girl doesn't go crazy on me again.'"

I pressed for a smile, and Ethan chuckled. "Anyway," He started. "How about this. We all sleep in the same room and take turns on watch, if that will make you feel better."

I nodded at Ethan. "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

><p>The next morning I woke up with a sore back, remembering how that giant had almost crushed the life out of me. My short hair stuck up in all sorts of directions, and Levi, who was currently on watch, snickered quietly.<p>

Last night had gone pretty well—except that Mrs. Roday's gumbo didn't quite turn out. We helped her extinguish the stovetop fire, but she claimed that this happened all the time, and that it had to do with faulty wiring and the such. Likely story. Anyway, Mr. Roday hadn't come home, due to the fact that he was on a fishing trip with some buddies. And because of his absence, we got our ears talked off. Poor guy, how terrible must one be in life to get a wife who never shuts up?

I was smiling at my mental remark when Rosie woke up. Her hair was frizzy, but boy, did she look like a whole new person. Who knew a shower and a brush could do so much for a person? Her hair was still stringy, but with all the dirt and grime out of it, it turned out her hair was closer to dirty blonde than brown. Her blue eyes looked content with a full stomach and clean clothes to wear. We gave her a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt that Harley had left behind, though they hung loosely on her. But still, she seemed so happy to be with us. I was glad that she was happy, but inside I felt inward turmoil about our new mute friend.

I mean, she seemed like a nice person and all, and maybe we would end up being great friends. But I didn't want to feel like I was replacing Harley. And one of the things I wanted the most was to have Harley back with us. She was my best friend… and I would never get her back.

As I thought about all this, I rolled the ring that was on my camp necklace around in my fingers. I figured that I absently did this whenever I was deep in thought. Lee… maybe I would Iris Message him later. Yeah, that would probably make me feel better.

* * *

><p>After breakfast, there wasn't really anything to do. I mean, we weren't on the run anymore, and we weren't at camp, so there weren't any activities for us to engage in. Levi and Ethan decided to indulge themselves in lounging on the couch and watching TV, which was something we never got to do. Lazy bums. I decided to get some sunshine, and Rosie followed me.<p>

The back yard was small, with a vegetable garden in one corner and some grass was browning in the summer heat. A few sprinklers were misting the grass, and in the water was a rainbow. A rainbow! That's exactly what I needed.

"Watch this," I told Rosie as I dug a drachma out of my pocket. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please except my offering." I tossed the coin in and it disappeared. Rosie gave a little gasp, and I smiled at her. "Show me Lee Fletcher, Camp Half-Blood."

The mist shimmered, revealing a panoramic scene of the archery range. The Apollo campers were going about their normal activities, which seemed to be Masters' Archery right now, and Chiron was in the back, directing them. I was positioned behind and off to one side where Lee was. He was just about to pull another arrow out of its quiver when I hissed his name.

"Huh?" He looked around then spotted me. He put his arrow back and ran over. "Hey, Shiloh. What's going on? Is something wrong?"

I laughed. "No, nothing's wrong. We're staying at Levi's grandparents' house in NYC, but I was bored and felt like calling you."

"Oh," He looked relieved for a second then straightened again. "Luke's still here and Percy isn't back yet. I've been trying to find him in my dreams, but nothing is working."

"Oh… that's okay, I guess." I felt a little disappointed. I mean, I knew he would contact me when Percy got back, and he hadn't, so that obviously meant Percy hadn't made it yet. "Has Chiron acted suspicious at all? Of anything?" I questioned.

"It doesn't seem like it, but you never know with him."

"Right." I sighed. We stood there in an awkward silence until Lee spoke again.

"Well, I think I should, uh, get back to archery. Before Chiron really _does_ get suspicious."

"Okay… good to see you, I guess." I said.

He turned to go, but stopped."Oh, and Shiloh?"

"Yeah?"

"Stay safe." He looked earnest.

I smirked, remembering Ethan's words yesterday. "Hey, I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself."

He smiled. "Good," Then jogged back.

I traced my hand through the mist, and the picture disappeared.

Rosie looked like she had no idea what to say—oh the irony, haha. Herm… moving on. "Okay, I have to make one more call, then I'll explain this to you." I told her. She nodded, but still looked shocked.

I took out another drachma and tossed it in. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please except my offering." This time I was a little hesitant. I had no idea if this would work. "Show me… show me Percy Jackson."

To my surprise, it worked. But to my horror, the scene in front of me was nothing but bad. I stumbled back with surprise. There, in the mist, was Percy, Grover, and Annabeth, all in a huge arcade. The walls were decorated with paintings of huge lotus flowers, and there were waitresses walking around with trays. The trio was playing the games intently, with their eyes glazed over.

Rosie looked questioningly at me. I shook my head. "This is bad. Very, _very_ bad."

**A/N: Review to help the Golden Chocobo take over the world with his New Order! ALL HAIL THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN CHOCOBO! Ah, so you puny mortals do not know what a chocobo is? I shun you! Look it up and surender to the New Order of the Golden Chocobo! ALL HAIL THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN CHOCOBO!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys, sorry for that three week update, I wasn't meaning to have this updated that far apart from the last chapter. Anyway, this is an, um... basically just a filler chapter. I don't have much else to write for this story off hand, and it's coming to a close soon. I was really hoping to be able to get at least twenty chapters in this story, but honestly, I have no idea if I'll be able to.**

**Disclaimer: No, silly, I don't own it!**

**Chapter Fifteen- Waiting Game**

"Hmm, I have no idea where they're at," Ethan looked puzzled. Levi shrugged in agreement.

"I know, but what do we do? We have to help, or else there's going to be a huge war!" I sighed.

"Nothing. We can do nothing." Ethan stated simply.

"What do you mean '_nothing'_? We _have_ to do something! The world is going to come down if we just stand here and watch on the sidelines!" I shook Ethan by the shoulders, as if that would get it through his head somehow.

"No, Shiloh; just stop. There's nothing we can do. We don't even know where they are!"

I looked around frantically. I didn't know before that the end of the world was _this_ close. If they were stuck in that hypnotic place… we were all doomed. "B-but, we could call Olympus! Let them know what's happening!"

Ethan just sighed. "If there's a war starting on Olympus, our input's not going to have an effect. Besides, why would they listen to us, a bunch of unclaimed kids?"

I stayed silent as the painful truth smacked me in the face once again: we were useless, absolutely useless. But Kronos said he could give us meaning, he could make us worth something…

"I guess that means you agree. Now, you just need to keep your mind off of these things, okay? You'll hurt yourself." Ethan swiped his hand through the misty image, and the quest members disappeared in the rainbow.

"So… we just wait to see what happens?" Levi asked.

"Yeah, the solstice is in a few days, we'll see soon enough." With that, Ethan walked back inside, with Levi close behind.

Ethan acted like it was no big deal, which really bothered me. Had he gone over to the titan's side and just hadn't told us? Was he a double agent? Was he… no, I needed to get these thoughts out of my mind.

Rosie still had that confused look on her face. I was no longer in the mood to explain anything to her, but I sucked it up. "C'mon, I'll explain."

* * *

><p>At first, the mute looked at me like I was some maniac, but then she started to understand. I had made sure to leave out the part about her being a demigod like us, so her scent wouldn't get stronger. I'm sure she was suspicious of her own parentage by now, but I tried my best to make it so I wasn't outright saying she was one of us.<p>

_So... you are taking me somewhere safe? Where you live?_ She signed.

"Yeah, basically." I nodded.

_But you said it's not safe. When will it be?_

I sighed. "I don't know. Soon, probably." I didn't want to tell her the truth. I wasn't going to tell her that it was probably never going to be safe.

The girl sat there, looking a bit disappointed, but didn't ask anything else. I noticed thick white scars on her neck that I hadn't really seen before.

"Um, Rosie, do you mind if I ask something? How did you, er… become the way you are?"

Her hand automatically went to her throat, like she was trying to hide the scars. She looked at me sadly for a moment, but then turned away.

"Okay, if you don't want to tell me, then you don't have to." I left her alone in the room, and headed downstairs. If the end of the world was really coming, there was something I needed to do.

The kitchen was small, but efficient enough for cooking big meals in. Next to the door that led outside was a telephone, hanging on the wall. I picked up the receiver and dialed a number.

"Dad?" I asked into the piece when I heard a voice pick up the other end.

"_You have reached the Lawson residence. We must be out right now, so please leave your message at the tone. Beep! No no, Shiloh, the beep comes all by its self—"_

I smiled, even though I had only gotten the answering machine. I couldn't believe my dad still kept that old message—I had begged him to let me record it when I was only six. My little voice came brokenly, as I repeated what he told me to say. My father ended the message by telling me not to make the beeping noise myself.

"Hey, Dad…" I started into the phone. Unsure of what to say, I stumbled over my words. "Um, so, I was just calling to say, er… that I love you, and, uh, if anything happens just know that… so yeah, thanks…"

I hung up the receiver.

"Can you say awkward?" I heard Levi's voice say from the kitchen doorway.

"You just can't help it, can you?"

"Help what?" He asked innocently.

"Gah, you really are just like your twin." I teased the eavesdropper.

Levi's smile disappeared. "Yeah, I guess so. Except we aren't really twins anymore. I'm getting older and she'll be thirteen forever." There was so much bitterness in his voice, but I didn't quite think it was directed at Harley.

He looked worn, sadder, older. I mean, he was a little bit older than me, but he didn't always act it. His curly hair had gotten longer and shaggier over the trip, and he looked all together sad and depressed, like he was alone in this world.

"I'm sorry Levi, but—" I hesitated before going on, remembering Artemis's last words to me and my own thoughts on them. "—everything happens for a reason, you know?"

Levi stared hard at the ground. After a few long moments, he spoke. "What do _you_ know about Fate? Why was she taken, why Shiloh? If you know so much, tell me! Tell me why they had to take my sister! I don't even get why I'm still around." His voice trembled.

I knew he wasn't angry at me, but instead I was the nearest thing he could vent to. "Levi, a girl gave her life up so that you could live. And on top of that, she knew that's why she was born. She knew she was supposed to save you; not me, not Ethan. _You_. There's a reason you're still around."

"Whatever."

I was starting to worry about what was happening to Levi, our cheerful friend. He was always in high spirits…

Neither of us talked for a while, but he finally spoke up again, changing the subject. "So, you weren't able to reach your dad?"

"No,"

"You talk to him often? Write letters, Iris message?"

"Not really… I haven't talked to him for a few months. Oh, who am I kidding? I haven't talked to him in years." I felt really bad all of a sudden. Here I was, with a father that I didn't even bother to talk to, and there was Levi, who was fatherless.

"Oh, well… I hope everything works out for you two."

He left the room, leaving a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I didn't know what I was supposed to do now; there was only so much to be done:

Hope for the best and wait.

**A/N: I feel that this isn't really one of my best chapters. I don't know... a little more of Shiloh's past appeared in this one, so maybe that's an upside.**


	16. Chapter 16

**So, I've been feeling that my past work on this story really wasn't any good. So I'm rewriting it! Well, actaully, I'm just fixing the terrible mistakes I made, and I've finished chapters one through seven for the best reading experience. But that does not mean that I'll stop writing the new chapters all together.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Percy Jackson.**

**Chapter Sixteen- Secrets**

The days went by, and our nerves didn't calm down much. Mr. Roday had come home from his fishing trip to a house full of children, and he seemed more or less happy to have a bunch of people staying with him, who of which his wife had so graciously agreed to taking in. Along with Mrs. Roday, he didn't seem like the kind of person Levi had impressed upon us. The Rodays acted like we were their grandchildren, which was a little odd, to tell the truth. The fact that they took us in and treated us with such kindness… maybe they hadn't had any young people stay with them for a long, long time.

Nothing terrible happened during the current length of our stay; no monsters disguised as mailmen knocking at the door, no surprise attacks while we went to the supermarket. But the dreams… they just got more intense.

The titan lord must have been getting desperate for people to join him, considering the last method he tried to use on me.

"_I could make you a ruler: courageous, strong, beautiful."_ Kronos' voice echoed.

A mirror appeared in front of me and my reflection started changing. My eyes turned to a lively blue, while my hair grew longer and that mysterious silver streak disappeared. I was now taller, more graceful, heck, my fingernails were painted! My figure was adorned in an elegant gown, which hung perfectly on me. My face took on a different look too—I was pretty. No, I was drop dead _gorgeous_.

I just stared at my reflection—which was so uncharacteristically confident and sure—completely mesmerized. But I blinked and cleared my head. This wasn't me. _"Vanity is worthless; I don't care about this stupid deal."_

He growled. _"Fine, I can give you anything you desire. Riches, glory, honor? Just give me your allegiance!"_

"_All I want is to know who my mother is!"_ I shot back.

"_You must agree to make me your master, and I will give you this valuable piece of information."_

I hesitated. I was so close, but… _"I don't know. Is it really worth betraying my friends?"_

"_What if they come with you?"_

"_But—"_

"_No! You must make a decision."_ It cut me off.

"_I-I'm still thinking about it, but… I just need more time."_ I said, slightly ashamed.

"_I have all the time in the world,"_ The voice laughed and faded, along with the image of the perfect me.

I bolted up in my mattress and ran to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror, and there was my reflection, the normal me. It was quite the relief. My eyes were back to their normal color—black, just like my hair. And the silver streak in my bangs was still there… I wasn't sure what it was for, but it must be important if it was there.

I touched my face—it was still plain as ever. I didn't have a perfect complexion, and I most definitely was not pretty, but not really ugly, just… plain. My looks couldn't even compete with Harley's, but I didn't mind. Vanity _was_ worthless.

I sighed and went back to the bedroom. What would I do? I could find out who my mother was, and if my friends came with me, they could too, plus, I wouldn't be betraying them. Except there was Lee… I'm sure that he wouldn't come with us, and I couldn't imagine opposing him. But then again, if we sided with the titans, the monsters wouldn't be after us. I mean, that little stunt I pulled by calling my dad was bad enough, and the monsters could still come. But honestly, it would be so much easier if they weren't hunting us.

I had debated with myself like this for days, but I just couldn't bring myself to tell the others. Would they agree with me or kick me out? Nobody wants a traitor among them.

The decision was tough. I sighed as I looked at the alarm clock. It blinked 9:00. Gosh, it was hard not being at camp—by this time I should've been on my first activity. Lying around the house all day was way harder than I thought it would've been, so we practiced sword fighting and stuff in the back yard, and hopefully the neighbors wouldn't report us. Yeah, maybe practicing out in the open with lethal objects wasn't the most inconspicuous way to spend our time…

I heard my name being called from downstairs, so I headed for the living room.

"Shiloh, come look at this!" Levi called from the couch. He, Ethan, and Rosie were watching the television screen intently.

I walked over to see what they were talking about, and on the screen was a picture of none other than Percy Jackson.

"—Yes, that's right, Dave. Percy Jackson, the boy that was rumored to be missing has been believed to spotted." The reporter said. "Just here, a little over a week ago, Jackson was seen falling out of the St. Louis Arch." A video of the boy falling out of the top was played. A grainy picture of his face was compared with a school ID of the demigod.

"Wait a second, that's my hometown!" I pointed as it showed pictures of the damage done on the structure. "And that's… Dad!"

Everyone leaned in closer to the screen as my own father's face appeared on the screen. "Here we have St. Louis's own Joshua Lawson, who saw it happen on his lunch break."

"That's right, Judy. I always sit with a perfect view of the Arch like I do every day, and then, there from the top, a small explosion was set off! I rushed to my car to get closer, and as I did, a boy fell from the top of the tower! A terrorist attack, maybe?" My dad finished.

"That could be what it was, and officials are still checking the perimeters to find the source of the explosion, but nothing has been reported as of yet. Back to you, Dave."

The screen changed to a common news setting and we all sat back, none of us talking.

Levi blinked a few times. "Percy a terrorist? Imagine that," He grinned stupidly at me.

I just glared at him, still getting over the shock of seeing my father… on TV of all places. I hadn't actually seen his face in over three years, since I ran away. The guilt from a few nights ago washed over me once again.

"Well, who knows?" Ethan stated. "If that's what the mortals are making it out to be, then so be it. I really couldn't care."

"Yeah, but we kind of should. The solstice is _tomorrow_. It could be the end of life as we know it!"

"Shiloh, life as we know it already _has_ been taken away from us. I don't think it could get any worse." Ethan looked down darkly.

True. But still, life still had a little meaning to me.

"Well, if the end of the world is tomorrow, maybe we should do something special." Levi suggested.

I sighed irritably. "Okay, just because the gods could be starting a giant war does _not_ mean that the world is ending." All I got were blank stares from Rosie and Levi, and Ethan rolled his eyes. "What?"

"I think you should take in the situation a little more clearly." Ethan started. "The Olympians—_extremely_ powerful beings—are going to start a _war_. A war! One worse than a nuclear war! This is a very, _very_ bad situation—"

Before he continued, we noticed Mrs. Roday standing stark still from the base of the stairs, staring at us.

"Oh, h-hey Grandma, we, uh, didn't see you standing there!" Levi stammered.

The older woman went a little pail. "Um, yes. I was just heading to the kitchen." She rushed away.

"Great, now we're scaring old people," Ethan muttered. "Let's talk outside."

We all followed Ethan except for Rosie. She had stayed quiet for the whole time—or so to speak. Sometimes I really wondered what was going through her head. Poor girl, this must've been so tough on her.

Once we were out of earshot of Levi's relatives, I sighed. "So, what _do_ we do?"

"Well, I don't know… I guess we just keep on waiting. All we have is one more day till the solstice." Ethan replied.

We stayed silent at this ominous answer. It was all we had.

Levi cleared his throat. "There's, um, something I've wanted to talk to you guys about." His face looked pained.

"What is it?"

"Well, it's about, um, you-know-who—"

"Your dreams have been getting worse, haven't they?" Ethan asked, surprising me.

Levi was taken aback just a little. "Well, yeah. But what I want to really say is, are you, like, really sure that we're doing the right thing?"

"Levi, the titans want to _demolish_ the gods. Our parents." I pointed out.

"Yeah, our parents." His voice dripped with hate. "Those jerks who don't even care enough to claim their own children! Do they hate us _that_ much? Are we that much of a shame to them that they refuse to even recognize us?" His voice cracked with emotion.

"Levi," I tried to say, but he cut me off.

"Why _should_ I support them? Why should I give them my respect, my anything! They don't deserve a thing from us! Just because we're demigods and we're their children, does not mean we have to fight for them! We're worthless! Undetermined, unclaimed, unwanted, unloved, and unimportant! _He_ could make us worth something!" Levi kept his back to us the whole time.

"But if we join him, we can find out who our parents are." I tried to talk some reason into the guy. Maybe… maybe his sister's decision had been harder on him then I had thought.

Levi turned his face to the side so that we could see half of a wavering smile. "Yeah, I would like that."

"Good, so just calm down—"

"So that I can find out who they are and watch them burn as Kronos takes over Olympus." Levi's smile turned a bit psychotic and he turned away again.

I pleaded with Ethan silently. He nodded solemnly.

"Levi, think these things through. Is burning down Olympus really the right thing to do? Our parents may be the worst things to ever walk the earth, but that doesn't change the fact that they're still our parents."

"Ethan, for me, it's the right thing to do." Levi said after a slight silence.

"But just because it's the right thing for _you_, does not mean it's _right_."

"Just… why can't you leave me alone? They took my sister, they took Dad, they took away my life! They took away my livelihood, so I should take away theirs." Bitterness rosined his voice.

"Levi, listen to me," Now it was Levi's turn for one of Ethan's lectures. He forced the other guy to face him. "You're here for a purpose, what that purpose is, we don't know. So don't ruin your life and make the wrong decision. You were born into this life, and I am _not_ going to let you screw it up."

"Then maybe it would've been better to not be born at all."

We stared at him in shock. This was the most uncharacteristic Levi had ever acted. "Listen to me," Ethan gritted his teeth. "I am _not_ letting you join them. Let me tell you, you will regret it for the rest of your worthless miserable life."

"You aren't my dad,"

This new bratty behavior really seemed to tick Ethan off. "Well you know what, Levi? You know what?"

"What?" The tension between them rose even higher.

"I will _kill_ _you_ before I let you join them."

I stood there shocked at Ethan's words.

So did Levi, but then he sneered. "I'd like to see you try."

Ethan shot me a glance. We both knew that he would never kill our best friend. How to get Levi back under control…? Then I got an idea. I mouthed a word to Ethan, and he nodded ever so slightly.

"Levi, I _know_ there's a small voice somewhere in you telling you not to join the revolt."

"No there's not,"

"Yes there is." Ethan said a little more forcefully. "And that voice—it has a name. You know what its name is?"

"It's not there!" Levi yelled.

"Harley. Its name is Harley. You _know_ she wouldn't approve. Admit it."

Levi looked down, not answering—he knew the truth.

"Admit it! You know it's true, so just admit it!"

When Levi still remained silent, Ethan yelled at him one more time.

"Fine! She wouldn't approve! Just—just don't bring her up! This isn't about Harley!"

"Yes it is, Levi. If she were still here, we wouldn't be doing this right now."

A few tears rolled down Levi's cheeks as his lips trembled. He wiped his hand across his face angrily. "I have to do this."

"No you don't," Ethan's voice took on a softer, yet still firm tone. "Levi, you need to realize that if you join the titans, you'll be fighting _against_ Harley."

"B-but what if I convinced her to join me?" Levi asked with vain hope.

"She wouldn't, Levi. She has a strong heart that's filled with good. She would never join you, and you know it."

"Fine. I-I won't. For now." Ethan let go of his shoulders and Levi walked back into the house.

I watched him through the window until I couldn't see him anymore, then turned back to Ethan. We just looked at each other, as if silently communicating. We had already been put out, but this… this shook us at our foundations.

"D-do you think that he really means it?" I asked.

"I think so. This should keep him in line for now, but a bad seed's been planted, and it's starting to grow." Ethan replied, looking away from me. "Sometimes the only way to get through to people is to break them, and that's exactly what the titan lord is doing."

I felt a lump well up in my throat. "Ethan… what would you—" My voice wavered.

Ethan walked over to me. "What is it, Shiloh?"

I was so, _so_ tempted to tell him that I had been thinking about joining the titans, but I wasn't sure if I could bring myself to do it, considering all that had just happened.

"It's just… never mind." I looked down, ashamed.

Ethan gave me a loose, reassuring hug. "I understand. These times are hard on all of us."

I felt myself shaking. He would never think of me the same away again if I told him my secret. Our trust would never be at the same height as it was now. I resolved to make sure that it stayed a secret, too. I couldn't betray our trust.

**A/N: I don't usually advertise my other stories, but I've started a new one that I would be so happy if you read. It's called The Official Fanfiction University of Olympus. It's a spinoff of misscam's OFUM, just with a Percy Jackson twist.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Oh my Ansem, people! I'm so, so, so sorry for not updating recently! I've just been so busy with the Official Fanfiction University of Olympus for the past few weeks (which I still suggest checking it out), I haven't gotten around to writing this chapter! And I feel bad too, cause it's not even 2,000 words long... I feel like such a loser. Anyway, I only have, like, three more chapters to go? Ah! I've almost completed my first story! Anyway, enough of that, please enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own PJO.**

**Chapter Seventeen- The Solstice**

"Shiloh, honey, could you come sit down?" My dad said as soon as I put my school things away.

"What is it?" I tilted my head. My dad was never like this. He never actually wanted to sit down and talk before dinner.

He sighed, his face looking extremely pained. "I-I'm going to have to send you away for a while… it'll be better for you—"

"Oh. You don't want me, do you?" I was only nine back then. My thoughts didn't register with the most common sense. "You don't love me anymore?"

My father looked appalled at that very thought. "Why would you think that?"

I sighed like it was evident. "You're never home! It's always 'go to your friends house after school' or 'Grandma will come take care of you today.' You just don't want me."

He shook his head. "No, no! Angel, you have to understand that I'm quite busy, my work demands a lot of time!"

"I understand." I looked down at the ground and headed to my room.

"Where are you going?" My dad called after me.

My voice quivered as I said "To pack."

"Come back here, there's something else I need to tell you."

I ignored him and pulled out a bag from the small closet. How could he be doing this to me? I knew he was busy, and that work demanded his attention, but… I was less important than his work? My own mother that gave me to him wasn't here to take care of me, and he just pushed that aside?

Sure, he would take me on occasional "family" trips, like to Florida for Disney World, but it always turned out to be a business trip he was trying to cover up from my knowledge.

"Shiloh, the reason I'm sending you away isn't because I don't want you." My father entered my room. "It's because, well… I don't know how to explain this, but… your mother, she said that I needed to send you away before you were twelve, and…" His voice cracked.

"Wait, what about my mother?" My attention was caught.

"She—" His voice was cut off by the doorbell. He sighed and headed for the door. "I'll explain in just a minute. Let me just go get this…"

"Yeah, it's probably a dumb co-worker." I muttered with a sour look on my face. I continued to stuff things into my bag, not really thinking of what this all had to do with my mother, the woman that left my father with a baby and nothing more. She didn't want me either…

Suddenly there was a gasp from the door. I passed it off as maybe he was surprised at some news about a client, but my curiosity keeled over as I heard his muffled shouts.

"Dad…?" I walked cautiously to the door. But what I saw made me want to curl up into a ball and never look back up.

A grisly looking man with sharp teeth was holding my father by the neck, his other hand wrapped around his mouth.

He smiled wickedly as his red eyes fell on my shaking form. "Hello, little half-blood! Your scent, though very weak, has been causing me grief. But now I found you, and I will eat you for dinner!"

He let my dad drop to the floor, and tried to get into my home. But as he took each step, he grew taller and taller.

My scream was caught in my throat, and I was frozen in fear as the thing ducked into the doorway. It had almost fit its large body in when I saw a blur from behind. Something jumped up in the air quicker than my young eyes could see, and kicked the monster in the back. The giant… thing fell over with a thud, but was still very much so conscience.

"Quickly, you need to come with me!" A teenaged guy looked at me frantically.

"Wh-what is that?" I pointed at the monster. "And who are you? What's happening, what happened to my dad?" I shot off the questions.

"No time, just come on!" He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me out the door.

"Shiloh!" My dad called, pulling himself off the floor. "Go with him! Don't stop running!"

"Dad!" I cried as the guy dragged me away.

"I'll get her to camp, don't you worry, Mr. Lawson!" The guy called back to my father. "And run! Run as far away as you can and don't come back till you think the giant is gone!"

My dad shouted a response and got up, took one last glance at me, then ran in the other direction.

"Dad!" I sobbed as the strange guy pulled me down a stairwell, taking me far, far away from my life.

"Don't worry," He tried to comfort me as best as he could with the frantic look on his face. "I'm your protector; I'll make sure you stay safe."

I didn't register his words as we flew down the stairs, still wailing "Dad!"

From that point on and months to come, I thought the reason I was taken was because my parents didn't want me…

* * *

><p>I woke up, feeling like a heavy weight was on my heart. I needed to talk to my father, or else… I would never forgive myself. The world was probably going to end today, and the last thing I said to him in person was "Dad!"<p>

I pulled myself out of bed and took a hesitant look outside of the window. It was just how I thought it would be—stormy, with not even a patch of blue in the sky. Rain was pouring down fiercely, and thunder rumbled across the sky. The solstice had arrived.

Bitter thoughts started rolling into my mind. _The gods are petty to start a war over a missing lightning bolt. You don't need them, they just want to destroy each other! Join the titans, they don't start wars over stupid things. _Wow, wait. That thought couldn't have been my own. I had decided last night to not even think about joining the titans because of the dispute with Levi. That would just make me a hypocrite. And besides, I soon realized the voice talking in my head wasn't my own—it was Bitterness, my buddy old pal.

I pushed that constant companion away and looked around the room.

Like yesterday, everyone was already downstairs. They were just sitting on the couches, and I joined them. No one spoke, we just traded grim expressions. This was probably the last day of peace, if Percy didn't save the world. Psh, he would never succeed…

Ethan spoke up first, but it was like he was giving a speech at a funeral. "Guys… it was nice. All the times we spent together, I enjoyed it. But… it looks like it will all be coming down soon." He didn't need to say what he was thinking, we all knew. Ethan had lost hope.

Levi spoke slowly. "I-I did too… you guys were always there for me… even when I made the wrong decisions." His eyes held the glassy expression that they did yesterday when Harley was brought up.

"Rosie," I started. "I wish we could've gotten to know you better." There I go, getting all angsty and unhopeful. Gah, I hated depressing moments. "I think… I think we all made good runs. We all made the right choices, even Harley." I took a quick glance at Levi, but his gaze was on the floor.

"And," Ethan struggled to get the words out. "Rosie, I'm sorry for doubting you."

The mute girl just nodded her head once.

"I… I really hope this isn't the end." Levi spoke up, which I wasn't expecting. "I _would_ like to see camp just… just one more time."

"And see Lee." I put in wistfully. "Vanessa too, I promised her sister that I would help make things right between them."

At the mention of Isabella, Ethan stiffened. Over the weeks we had been on the run, he hadn't brought up the girl since we left the hunters.

"Right…" Levi sighed.

After that, none of us talked for hours. We just sat there, not necessarily _enjoying_ the moment so much as we were _embracing_ it. If this was our last peaceful day together, it wasn't exactly how I would've planned it, but all in all, it was all right.

* * *

><p>That night we just sat in the bedroom. We knew that if war broke out, we probably wouldn't be separated immediately, but there would surely be chaos. And so, like we had been trained for the latter part of our lives, we prepared for a fight.<p>

Ethan and I polished our swords, while Levi sharpened his arrows. We gave Rosie a spare knife, but she was obviously at a loss as what to do with it.

We exchanged looks, and nodded. We were ready.

* * *

><p>I had no dreams that night, but that didn't mean my sleep was peaceful. It thundered and lightning streaked the sky, bringing flashes of light through the window.<p>

In the morning, the first thing I thought of was to look out the window, but Ethan and Levi had beaten me to it. As I got up, they looked at me, strange looks on their faces.

Ethan swallowed hard. "It… it's over." I walked over to the window, and the sky was clear, not a cloud in sight.

I stared out the window with mixed emotions, my heart doing summersaults. "We can… can… can we go home?" We had been gone for so long… I looked forward to this so much… and now that it was here…

"I think," Levi's voice wavered. "I think we can."

A few tears traced down my face. In the past, I was taught to try hard not to show my tears—to always be strong, to not show weakness—but I had learned a lot of things about myself in the past few weeks. My friends were close enough to me that I didn't have to hide myself like I did in the Hermes cabin.

For minutes the three of us just looked at each other, out the window, and then back at each other, overwhelmed that we could finally, _finally_ go home.

"Shiloh?" We all whirled away from the window to a voice behind us. There in a misty image was Lee—hisface at first was solemn, then split into a grin. "_He's back_."

**A/N: Three more chapters!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry, people, I lied. In the last chapter I said that there would be three more chapters, but there are only going to be two. Next chapter is the last! Eep!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO!**

**Chapter Eighteen—Going Home**

"—he came back last night." Lee continued.

"So all in all… Percy is back, and everything is fine." Ethan concluded.

"Yes. So…" He searched around for the words, then looked directly at me, except there was something in his eyes. Something like… grief—I was confused. "You guys coming back?"

"Well, Shiloh said that it would probably be fine when Percy came back," Ethan responded. "Right?"

"Um," I couldn't shake off the weird expression on Lee's face. "I guess so."

My friend shook his head. "That's another reason why I called. I don't think it's safe here. I don't think you guys should come back until Luke leaves." His voice went down to a whisper.

"What?" Levi exclaimed. "But Shiloh said—"

Lee looked around frantically. "Shh, you never know who could be listening!"

"All right, go on." Ethan prodded.

A sigh came from the image. "I… I feel that it's still not safe for you to come back. I've been having these, these… dreams. It's just not safe, Shiloh."

I tried my best to keep my breathing controlled. I think at that moment, the poundings that struck my heart went a little too far, and it shattered. My mouth twitched nervously between a slight smile and a frown. I tried my best to keep things together. "I… um, I was… just, er, looking forward so badly, to c-coming, uh, h-home…" I stopped talking; my voice was shaking that badly.

"I'm really sorry, Shiloh, I really am." Lee's face was pained.

Ethan put a hand on my shoulder. "I know how you feel; I want to get back to camp as soon as possible too."

"I… I just need to be alone." I charged out of the room, almost walking through Lee's image.

I flew down the stairs, and out to the backyard. I stared at the fence, trying to keep the sob from leaping out of my throat. I just needed to get away from this place… I couldn't live like this—without the assurance that I would be safe within camp's borders.

I needed to see other faces. I needed to talk to Vanessa, embrace Lee, keep other unclaimed campers from joining the Titans, get Rosie somewhere safe and free of being homeless. I had obligations to fulfill, but if Luke was in my way, none of it could get done!

I wiped the tears away harshly. This was no time to be getting emotional over not getting what I wanted. I was being childish; I would get back to camp _one_ _day_ and do what needed to be done, Luke or no Luke.

Wiping my face one more time, I made up my mind to take charge of the situation with fierce determination. This was no time for a breakdown, which was probably what Kronos wanted, and I was on the verge of a bad one. _But if anyone deserves to face a mental breakage, it would be me._ No, no, no! That wasn't the real me thinking. Get a grip on yourself, Lawson! Suck it up, and throw your problems right back at life!

I stomped back to the room where Ethan, Levi, and Rosie were. Levi was excitedly telling Rosie that they would get back to camp soon, and that she had nothing to worry about. Ethan was sitting on the other bed, deep in thought; Lee's image had faded.

When I walked in, they all looked at me worriedly. I took a deep breath and began talking. "We'll head back a day before the summer session is over; Luke should be gone by then. Levi, we'll see if your grandparents can drive us back; if they can't, then we'll head out a week before it ends. Do you think the ride will be fine with your relatives?" I asked firmly.

"Um… probably." Levi nodded.

"So, is this a plan?" I tried my best to look confident, but inside, I was dreading what the others would say.

I stood there uncomfortably while the others pondered this. Rosie had a look on her face that said she had no say in any of this, and Ethan's gaze was on the wall, cold and calculating. Levi looked unsure, like the fact that we wouldn't be going back to camp for at least another month bothered him a little. Well, it bothered us all.

Levi spoke up first. "But… are you okay with not getting back for a while? The way you were so happy then so upset seemed a little—"

"Bipolar? Unstable? Melodramatic? Yeah, it kind of did." I admitted to my embarrassment.

"Well, I wasn't going to put it like _that_, but yeah, I guess."

"Shiloh, I think your plan is—" Ethan paused, which set my stomach into knots. If he didn't think it was a good idea, I would never try to take charge again. "—is fine. We don't have much else of a choice if we don't want to get killed." He allowed himself a small smile.

I let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you, guys." And then, almost silently, I added, "Lee… I'll see you soon."

* * *

><p>After another painfully agonizing month of waiting—with nothing exciting <em>or<em> bad happening in said time, thank Zeus—that gods-blessed day finally arrived. I had let Lee know some time ago what we were going to do, and he agreed that it was probably the best choice. He still had a twinge of doubt in his voice, but I tried my best to ignore it.

We all hastily packed our things, and everyone was jittery with excitement to get back to camp, even Rosie. Our spirits were high; I even secretly cried a few tears of joy. Everything had worked out with Levi's grandparents, and we told them that it was a boarding school we were all heading off to for the fall.

We were hanging around the living room, itching to leave any minute. Then tragedy struck.

"What do you mean, 'the car is in the shop'?" Levi exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, dears, but that's the way things go sometimes." Mrs. Roday smiled sympathetically. Oh yeah, and did I mention that their spare truck just _had_ to be loaned to some friends that week? I know, just our luck.

Ethan sighed. "It's okay. Being a little late for, er, the first quarter will be fine." But I knew it wasn't 'fine' with him. There was obvious irritation in his voice.

Mrs. Roday's eyes twinkled at his compliance. "Thank you for understanding. But the car should be out by tomorrow, so we'll get you there soon." She started walking away, muttering to herself. "Now, why would they want to arrive the day school starts? Hmm…"

Levi sighed dejectedly and flopped onto the couch. "Great, just great."

* * *

><p>Of course, none of us could sleep. Imagine how it is the night before you go on a long awaited vacation—now project that by a million. Yeah, that's what we were feeling.<p>

Recently, it seemed like the only reason to sleep was to just get on with the next day so that the next night would arrive, so that the next day would come, and—okay, I think you get the point. Basically, it felt like the only reason we were enduring the boring days was so that we could get back to camp. Most of our summer had been wasted here.

In the morning, we went through the same routine as yesterday, feeling just a giddy, waiting for Mr. Roday to get back with the car. Hopefully it wouldn't break down on the way to camp.

As the car pulled up, I couldn't help but take a moment to walk around the house again. As much as I hated it here—solely because we were here to escape camp—I then realized how thankful I was for this simple brownstone.

I looked at the stained tan carpet, the homey couches that were worn out and well-loved, the darkly stained coffee table that we always propped our feet up on, the kitchen… the phone in the kitchen that I used to contact my dad for the first time in years. I couldn't help but feel a place in my heart for this home. A place we were taken into right away, where we actually felt wanted for the first time in so long. I couldn't help but feel for Levi's grandparents—I almost wished they were mine, though we had some bumps along the road near the beginning. I think by this time Levi had changed his opinion on them too—they weren't that bad.

We walked outside, the little gold car parked and ready to go. Mrs. Roday wouldn't be coming with us—there wasn't enough room in the car.

I hugged her tightly, wondering why I had ever mistrusted her. Sure, she could be quite talkative and downright annoying sometimes, but I couldn't bring myself to dislike her. "Thanks so much," I whispered as we separated.

She nodded and smiled sadly. "Take care of yourself, Shiloh. Be a good girl."

_Be a good girl_. I tried so hard to take that to heart, but I was constantly failing, bringing myself even lower every time I thought of joining Kronos.

Levi looked as though he was near tears when he said goodbye. I think it was a strange mix of emotions for him—fondness of his grandparents' house, and that he would miss them; anticipation to get back to camp, to get back to _home_; and, of course, overwhelming forgiveness toward these two elderly people. Whatever they may have had against him and Harley—even if it was their own son's death—was gone now. I think that on that trip, it was Levi who had experienced the most, learned the most about himself. He could be strong without his sister, but it would still take a lot of healing.

As we shoved into the backseat, I looked back at the New York brownstone one more time. Mrs. Roday was waving, her wrinkled face smiling, with just a few traces of sadness in her eyes.

I turned around and smiled. Here we were—after our ridiculous journey—finally going home. I squeezed Rosie's hand and smiled; she could finally make a new life for herself, despite whatever her past was or how she had lost her voice. She smiled back, and I could almost sense in her pale blue eyes that she was thinking the same thing that I was.

Levi had his eyes closed, probably thinking back on the past few months as wind from the front seat window blew through his long curly hair. Boy, he needed to get it cut.

As I looked over at Ethan, who was on the other side of the back seat, the back of his head was turned to me so that I couldn't see his face as he looked out the window. But I could faintly see his reflection; his smile was small, but happy, but his eyes were sad, as though he could see that his future after this day would be changed forever—and not necessarily in a good way.

It couldn't make me help but wonder what he was thinking. I had pushed the thought that I was just a replacement friend to him to the back of my mind a while ago, but it still lingered.

I turned to look out my own window, and couldn't help but wonder what my own future held in store, and whether it would be good. Hah, fat chance. It seemed almost to be a rule that demigods aren't allowed to live happy lives. That depressed me a little, but for the rest of the hours that we drove, I filled my mind with happy thoughts, like looking out at camp's grassy hills once again.

Twilight dawned as we approached camp. We directed Mr. Roday to stop before we got too close to the entrance.

"You kids okay on your own? You want me to go with you?"

"No, it's fine," Ethan said. "Thanks for the ride, and for everything."

Mr. Roday nodded and clasped Levi's shoulders with his big hands. "Y'all stay out of trouble, you hear?"

"Yes sir," We murmured, then watched the car drive off.

We stood there for a second, then I breathed a happy sigh. "C'mon, guys, we're almost there."

We walked for a few minutes, then came close enough just to see Thalia's pine sticking up on Half-Blood Hill. It looked so small from there.

We were about to proceed when a boy staggered out of the forest in front of us. He had sandy hair and a scar on the left side of his face. The camper's eyes widened just a little.

We gasped. "Luke!"

He quickly regained his composure, but we, however, did not. But all in all, he looked terrible. His skin was sickly pale in the setting sun, and his scar seemed even more noticeable than before. He looked kind of like how the Apollo campers looked after using too much of their powers—sickly, stumbling a little, weak.

"Hmm, so you guys made it back alive, I see. Welcome home." He said smoothly.

"What are you doing out here, Luke?" Ethan snarled.

"Oh, don't worry about me; I'm just on my way out. Things to do, alliances to make." He smiled and started to walk past us, but I stood in his way. He laughed at my smaller stature.

"You're… you're just letting us go on in?"

He shrugged. "My purpose at that stupid camp is done. They'll know soon enough about the uprising. I must say, Shiloh, I am quite disappointed that you chose not to side with the winning team; I know you're smarter than that."

I hated this guy. He had put us out of camp because he threatened to kill us, and now he was just letting us in without a fight? My anger and hatred started to boil up, and I could almost hear the titan lord's voice murmuring in the back of my mind. _Good, good, let your hatred out. _Embrace_ it_. At the time, I didn't care if it would make him happy if I did according to what he wanted.

I pulled my sword out of its sheath and struck at Luke, but Backbiter was already in his hand. Being the amazing swordsman he was, our swords clashed and he pushed me to the ground, walking away like nothing had happened; he definitely still had it in him despite his weak appearance. My vision washed over in red, and I started to get up. I saw Ethan shaking his head for me to stop, but I wasn't about to just let Luke walk off.

I charged, and couldn't help but let an angry cry out. Luke skillfully side stepped without even turning to look at me, and his sword slashed out to his side, just enough to catch me in the face. It sliced a cut in my cheek, not deep enough to leave any major scaring, but gods, did it hurt. I had never felt that much pain from a mere sword wound.

"Shiloh," He sighed and shook his head. "You know better than to try attacking me. Why don't you just make things easy on yourself and come with me now? I'm leaving to gather more forces; you all would do fine to come too." He waved his sword at the others. "And Levi, we all know that you're _more_ than ready to come with me." He smiled sympathetically at our friend.

"N-no I'm not. I'll stick with the gods." But his voice was wavering, and it almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

Luke shook his head regrettably. "Levi, Levi, Levi… if just one more thing in your precious little life snaps—" Luke snapped his fingers to make his point, and Levi flinched. "—then so will you. Mark my words, Roday, you _will_ join one day."

What scared me more than Luke predicting that with such confidence was that Levi didn't object. He just hung his head in shame.

"That's what I thought. Now, Shiloh, if you aren't going to join me, then I'll be leaving. Don't try to stop me unless you want a sword in your chest next time you charge." He laughed lightheartedly and walked down the road until we couldn't see him anymore.

I pounded my fist on the ground. "That… that monster! That freak!" I yelled.

"C'mon, Shiloh, get up. Just forget about him," Ethan said. Yeah, like that was going to happen. "We're almost at camp.

I pushed myself up from where I fell, and touched the cut on my face. A steady line of blood ran out of it.

"We'll get that fixed, too." Ethan reassured, then started walking up the hill.

As the tall grass whipped my legs, I couldn't help but scowl. Luke had just… just slipped away, and like always, Ethan did nothing about it. Just then, I saw the outline of a camper on the hill, a few feet away from Thalia's pine. I could barely make out his face, though my vision was blurry from the painful cut—it was definitely Lee.

I ran up to meet him, and he smiled, but looked a little concerned about the gash on my cheek. Soon enough my friends caught up and we all stood on the hill, looking down at camp, where it was finally safe for us to live; safe to roam freely, fretless, and happy…

I looked at Lee's eyes and smiled, despite the pain. "W-we're back."

He nodded ever so slightly. "You're home."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Wow, I feel so cheesy for using those as the last lines. I'm sure that those of you out there who are into gaming know where I got them from. So yeah, I don't own those two last sentences spoken by Shiloh and Lee. Extra points to anyone who can tell me where I got them from!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Well... the end is finally here. This is probably the greatest achievement I've ever made, considering this is the first multi-chapter fanfic I've finished. *happy sigh* I've finished fixing up all the chapters, and I'm quite proud of this story. Anyway, now it's time for that huge authors note thanking everyone for what they've done.**

**HelloFriendsAndNeighbors, Elmethea, Almost Ninja, Miz636, bookworm178040, and Slyshindi: Thanks so much for reviewing this story so nicely when you saw it.**

**God1801 and Greyeyedowl98: Thank you for getting into this story even when it was almost complete. It warms my heart :)**

**All anonymous reviewers: Thanks for taking the time to read and review.**

**StarDustX, shining SHINee taemin, ShadowOfMyLight, percabethfanlover, magicdemi-god223, Kobra Kid96, Hazelnut Pie, wolveshill, and ColdSnowGirl: Even though none of you reviewed, thanks so much for favoriting and/or putting my story on alert. It let me know that people were actually reading it.**

**And finally, darklilyofthevalley: My everlasting thanks goes out to you. You've stuck with this story from the very beginning, you've been the only reviewer for long amounts of time, you gave me some wonderful ideas, and honestly, if you didn't give me the encouragement to keep going, I may have never finished this story. Thank you so, so, _so_ much.**

**And now, to discuss the next book. It will be called "A Light amidst the Darkness," which will be following Shiloh's adventures during _The Sea of Monsters_. I should hope that you all will read it. I'm probably going to start writing it in a week or two, so make sure to check back with me frequently. Oh, and feel free to drop one last review :)**

**Disclaimer: Like always, I do not own _Percy Jackson and the Olympians_.**

**Last thanks, and a big hug for all those who stuck with me on this story.**

**_~A.J._**

**Chapter Nineteen—Epilogue**

We weren't welcomed back to camp as heroes—well, we didn't actually do anything _heroic_, but still. No one really asked where we had been off to, even Chiron. He just gave us knowing looks, confirmed that we would be staying for the school year, and nothing more. It was… strange.

There weren't many kids around, the summer session being over and all, but it was still wonderful to be back at camp—to be back at _home_.

After I threw my stuff back into the Hermes cabin—and honestly, I felt a whole new love for that crowded room—I headed off to make a call. I found a hose down by the Pegasus stables, turned it to mist, and caught the setting sunlight in it to make a rainbow.

I hoped my dad was at home, if he even still lived there, because that was the address I requested. Thankfully, there he was in his small office room, hunched over paperwork. It took me a second to find my voice. He was safe, he was right there, he was _alive_, and I hadn't even talked to him since I arrived at camp. The bitter remorse started rising in my throat again, and my voice came out as a squeak. "D-dad?"

He picked his head up and looked around for the voice, then spotted the Iris message. He blinked a few times, trying to figure out if I was really there. His dark eyes squinted as he stood up shakily. "Shiloh…? Is that… is that really you?"

"No, this is just an Iris message. I'm not really here."

He looked confused. "I-if you say so." The expression passed, and turned to that of worry. "Honey, I got your call, and I was so worried. What happened?" His voice was so concerned—I had never heard his voice quake like that. My father was always calm and collected.

"Dad, I…" It took me a moment to figure out what I was going to say. "I just missed you, and… I guess I was just being irrational." I laughed nervously. I couldn't bear to tell him what had really happened. "And," I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

I bit my lip. He probably just didn't want me to feel bad. "For not calling you, not talking to you, not letting you know that I had made it to camp alive—" My voice cracked.

"Shiloh," He shook his head. "Camp called me and I was notified that you arrived safely. But… a call from you would've been nice." He said wistfully. "But how are things going there? Are you having a good time?"

I nodded. "Peachy. And, um, there's something that I've been wondering that I think you may be able to answer."

"Anything, honey."

I took a deep breath. He seemed to be taking this all so unbelievably well, even though I had been a selfish child by not talking to him. I didn't know how parents could be so… so _forgiving_. I wondered if he had ever forgiven my mother for leaving him so suddenly. "Dad, I-I don't know wh-who…" I swallowed hard. "I don't know who my mother is. Is there any chance that you know?"

His face clouded with confusion. "I thought that you may have known, so that you could answer that question for _me_. I-I—you—she…" his voice trailed off, and he shook his head. "She never told me; she always called herself Dianne. You have her eyes…" He said reminiscently, then cleared away his far-off expression. "Then I found out that she was a—" His voice still sounded like he didn't believe it. "—that she was a _goddess_. A real Olympian, Greek, real, ancient, immortal, beautiful, real, amazing… goddess!" He blurted out every word that came to his mind, emphasis on _real_. "But… she never told me which one she was. When I asked, all she said was that it wasn't my place to know—at least, not at that time."

That hurt. I thought I was _so_ close to finding out who she was. I really didn't want to feel like I was using my dad to get claimed, but… I guess I kind of was. I blinked away my disappointment. "O-okay. Thanks anyway…"

"I'm sorry, I hope that didn't let you down."

"Nah, I'm fine," I lied.

"And Shiloh, this may come off as—I don't know—a little rushed, but… I want you to come home. I understand that I didn't spend enough time with you when you were a child, but I want to rebuild our relationship. I want to start over."

I was shocked out of my mind. So many things started swirling through my head. He really wanted me back? He really, actually, for real, _loved_ me? It wasn't just an act…? The stars that had just come out seemed to shine a little bit brighter. I couldn't help but think of Isabella—was she up there right now? And that brought me back to the memories of our adventures. If I were to go home to my dad, and not stay here with my friends… would all that time we spent reaching to keep our lives be in vain? If I just left—when they had nowhere to go themselves—what kind of friend would I be?

I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to get the words out. "D-dad… I want to come home, I really do—"

"Then I'll come pick you up tomorrow, and we can find a good private school for you here, or I could even home school you, or—"

"—b-but I can't." I cut in before he could get any farther in his excited ramble. "I went through something—something extraordinary over this summer! I can't leave. I-I'm sorry."

There was obvious hurt on his face, and in all honesty, one of the reasons I turned him down was because… because I wasn't ready to face him again. I wasn't ready to feel more heartache from him neglecting his own child. I didn't have any reassurance that he was telling the truth, or that he was even sincere about anything. I just… couldn't.

My father took a shaky breathe and ran his fingers through his slick black hair. "I understand."

"Y-you do?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes. You're older now; you can make your own decisions, and I won't stand in your way. I'll just… just suck it up and move on with life." He gave me an unsure smile. "I just hope that you're happy with your decision_._"_ Because I'm not_, his face said.

"Dad, I'm sorry. But maybe… maybe I'll come back for Christmas. Would that be good?"

"I'll look forward to that. Shiloh, just know that I love you; I'll always be here for you if you ever want to come home."

Anytime? Daddy would always be waiting for his little girl? I swallowed back a sob. Maybe… maybe going back would be good. "I love you too, Dad…"

A tear rolled down my cheek as the message faded, and he reached out like he wanted to wipe it away, assuring his baby that she would be fine. When I couldn't see him anymore, I felt relief; things were made right between us. A little sadness was swirled into the mix, of course, but that was expected.

I took one more look at the stars, and knew what I had to do next. With a new burst of confidence, I headed down to the campfire to find Vanessa.

* * *

><p>"She's gone? A-are you sure?" Vanessa looked into the campfire, which was a lively shade of orange. Not as bright as usual, since there were so few campers, but it still felt warm and cheery; and, like everything else here, it felt like <em>home<em>.

I put a hand on her arm. "I'm sorry, but… she did it of her own free will, she knew it was her—"

"Fate, I know," Vanessa said miserably. "She was always talking about fate." She laughed bitterly, just a little. "It bugged me to no end. In fact, the last thing she said to me was, 'Vanessa, trust in Fate. It'll lead you to where you need to go, and now I know where I'm supposed to go in life. I love you, little sister.'" Her voice cracked on the last line, and she started crying.

I had already explained to her about Levi, and exactly everything that happened on our trip—and thank the gods, she didn't hate him for what her sister did. She actually looked at Levi with new fondness. But now… now there was nothing I could do for her.

Silena walked over and put her arms around the other Aphrodite child. "There, there, it'll be okay…" she was saying, then looked at me. "I've got it from here."

"Thanks," I nodded, and took one last look at the half sisters that seemed to be so close. A bit of envy churned my stomach; I wished I had siblings like that.

I shook off the feeling, telling myself that my friends were all I needed. Besides, I tried my best to push Kronos' influence out of my mind. It seemed to have been working for now, or maybe camp's borders blocked him out and I would never have to hear his voice again. Yeah, and horses can fly. Scratch that—that's probably not the best analogy… Okay, basically, yeah right. He would always be with me, and I there was nothing I could do about that.

Refocusing my mind on the happy atmosphere, I sat down in between Ethan and Rosie. She was smiling and looking around at the small group happily. Hopefully she would be claimed soon and not have to feel our pain. But if she was… I feared what Ethan would think of her. I knew he was still unrightfully bitter against claimed campers, but I tried my best not to think about it.

I looked on my other side at Ethan and Levi. The three of us shared smiles, but I couldn't help feeling as though we weren't complete; without Harley, a piece would always be missing, though I did have a feeling that we would see her again. I thought back on what Vanessa's sister had said to her. "_…Trust in Fate. It'll lead you to where you need to go…" _I hoped she was right.

I spotted Lee, who was helping to lead the sing-along with his cabin, and he smiled at me. As I tried to rid away with the blush that was creeping up in my cheeks, I couldn't help but wonder if _our_ fates were intertwined. A part of me said that it probably wouldn't end well, but I pushed it aside. Nothing in the future would be good for us.

I knew that my small part in this upcoming war would be anything and everything but easy, but I would get through it just like everything else; Fate would lead us to where we needed to go. Through this crazy journey, I learned a few things: maybe my mother didn't love me or want me, and maybe I would just be one of the many unclaimed souls that would never find their parents, but I wasn't _unloved_. I had a father that I could try to set a new path with, and I had great friends, who would never leave my side. I _was_ loved.

And as long as I knew that, life wouldn't be so bad.

_**The End.**_


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